Jeff Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric, one of the world's largest investors in clean energy, has demanded the federal government provide certainty around its renewable energy target.
Mr Immelt in an interview with The Australian Financial Review said a "certainty of rules" was crucial for investment.
"These debates are all natural that are taking place in Australia and people can understand those," he said. "But it's important to know what the rules will be so people can invest around it."
He said the sooner the uncertainty was resolved around the RET, the "better for everybody".
The federal government's proposal to almost halve the amount of renewable energy legislated to be to be produced by 2020 has been rejected by the Labor Party after it dismissed it as "completely unacceptable".
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has urged the Coalition and Labor to reach a deal so the "industry can go forward and invest confidently". Billions of dollars in investment have been on hold because of the uncertainty.
General Electric has about $US10 billion ($12.6 billion) in cumulative investments in renewable energy assets globally, which are predominantly in wind and solar.
On its Australian website, GE had noted Australia was leading the world in its renewable energy policy and, as a result, wind energy in Australia was projected to the most commercially viable form of renewable energy over the next five to 10 years.
However, this could change under the government's plans to alter the RET.
Mr Immelt said GE "began to invest massively" in clean energy after 2004 when it concluded that climate change was real.
He said post the global financial crisis the focus was on jobs and growth so "anybody talking green got sent to their room with no dinner".
He said business had a role in the sector to drive innovation.
Mr Immelt also weighed in on another matter dividing the federal government, which was whether it should become a foundation member of China's controversial new infrastructure bank.
While the US government has taken a hard line against the formation of the China-led infrastructure bank, it is gaining support among the American business community. Mr Immelt said "infrastructure banks are good things".
"The Japanese banks and trading companies have been investors in infrastructure for 100 years," he said. "Every country in Europe has an export or infrastructure investment fund. The European Union has an infrastructure fund. The US has EXIM and things like that. I think it's hard to push back on whether or not China can or should have an infrastructure bank."
General Electric makes everything from the locomotives that haul iron ore in Western Australia's Pilbara to MRI machines used in hospitals.
In his 12-year tenure as chief executive, Mr Immelt has transformed GE, once a manufacturer of consumer goods, into a group focused on infrastructure and analytics.
Australia hosts the G20 meeting next month in Brisbane, where one of the subjects to be discussed will be corporate tax shifting by multinationals.
Mr Immelt said in this area governments needed to address the root cause, which was outdated tax codes.
"There needs to be corporate tax reform," he said. "In the US the tax code was written in 1986. The notion that 30 years later in a global economy that would be contemporary – the world doesn't work that way. Fundamental corporate tax reforms that encourage right investment and behaviours that governments want is what most people want to see."
