Business leaders and the nation’s three biggest energy companies will not back the Coalition’s push for the Albanese government to abandon its 2030 clean energy target as David Littleproud and Peter Dutton attack the rollout of wind and solar across the country.

Power giants AGL, Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia – the largest owners of Australia’s remaining coal-fired power stations – have joined influential business groups in urging the government to stick with its ambitious pledge to shift the grid to 82 per cent renewable energy by the end of the decade.

Business groups are urging the Coalition not to reignite the climate wars. Credit: AP

The Albanese government has pledged to more than double the amount of power the electricity grid sources from renewables to 82 per cent by 2030 to help achieve its target of cutting greenhouse emissions 43 per cent by the same deadline.

Energy experts are increasingly worried the target will be difficult to achieve, as time is running out to build enough renewable generation and storage projects and thousands of kilometres of new high-voltage transmission lines to connect far-flung renewable energy zones to major cities, as farmers and landholders fight plans for new poles and wires on their land.