“It would be better in the long run if we had a carbon price,” said Mr. Warren of the Clean Energy Council. “It’s the economic tool of choice, because it’s seen as being the most efficient and most effective.”

He added: “Once introduced, it creates a core signal to business to change their investment patterns. Without it we are in a second-best market. We encourage a more cooperative approach to a carbon scheme as quickly as possible.”

But the bipartisan agreement that helped pass the laws on renewable energy in June does not exist on carbon. To get the renewable energy legislation passed in the Senate, Australia had to separate its renewable energy plans from its carbon trading program, just as President Barack Obama had to cut his clean energy initiatives from sweeping climate change legislation to appease the U.S. Congress.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said that she is still in favor of a market-based carbon program to tackle climate change but has deferred a decision until 2012. Tony Abbott, the opposition leader, is opposed to a carbon price.

Worldwide, investment in renewable energies has boomed in recent years, with some $190 billion worth of new clean energy in 2008, according to the Renewables Global Status Report for 2009. The number of large solar plants tripled to 1,800 between 2007 and 2008, with the majority of new plants in Spain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Portugal. The United States, the world’s biggest source of wind energy, installed five times Australia’s total wind energy capacity in 2008 alone.

One of the problems in Australia is that the country has too many energy resources, and too much cheap coal. The country is the leading exporter of coal in the world, and it generates about 80 percent of its electricity through coal-fired power stations.

Australia does not have energy security issues like Europe — which depends on Russia for natural gas — or the United States, which is trying to reduce its use of imported oil, said Mr. Warren of the Clean Energy Council. Such positions give those countries a greater incentive to take a more aggressive approach to renewable energy.