Nexa Advisory welcomes the opportunity to share our views and insights on the New South Wales Net Zero Commission 2025 Consultation Paper. The Commission has a strong leadership role to embed long-term decarbonisation goals into state climate and energy policy and ensure whole-of-government alignment.
New South Wales is the largest energy user and emissions source in eastern Australia. The state produced 115 Mt CO₂-e in 2022/23 – roughly one quarter of Australia’s total emissions – with electricity and stationary energy together contributing just over 40 per cent of that figure. The state is also the heaviest load in the National Electricity Market (NEM), accounting for around 30 per cent of NEM electricity demand in 2024. As such, the pace of coal retirement, and the delivery of renewable generation, storage and transmission in New South Wales is highly influential to Australia’s renewable energy and decarbonisation trajectories.
However, the pace of the clean energy transition is not meeting expectations or desired timelines. This not only means that Australia will fail to meet its climate targets, but that there is a significant threat to power system reliability and security, and increased costs for consumers both large and small.
We propose four key areas where the Net Zero Commission can help to unlock the potential of the electricity sector to support broader decarbonisation and investment across New South Wales.
- Incorporate sector-specific policy alignment and performance monitoring for the electricity sector in New South Wales
- The outcome of this Review should inform New South Wales’ participation in a renewed Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) developed by State and Federal Energy Ministers
- Provide certainty to investors to mitigate capital flight
- Support an independent review of the role and performance of electricity distribution networks in New South Wales – particularly to ensure the competitive delivery of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI)
Read our full submission here: Nexa Advisory – NSW Net Zero Commission 2025 review