Want to decarbonise faster? We need to become more productive

Decarbonising the Australian economy is vital and will cost money. The longer we put it off, the quicker we need to do it to get to net zero emissions by 2050. 

Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything

- Paul Krugman 

Australia will need new power plants, some new transmission lines, new battery storage, new appliances and many other changes. It will be a much softer hit to the economy if we spend that money over several decades rather than just one. This is why getting cracking on decarbonisation is vital — to spread the cost out over time.

Governments and companies can act as a buffer for the costs for a time by paying upfront and holding debt, but this can’t last forever. We will pay back government debt with taxes and pay back company debt via higher prices, lower wages, and lower returns on investments.

If the costs of change are too high in any one period, Australians will start to notice. Consumers could face higher taxes, higher prices and potentially even lower pay. Such a confluence would put living standards at risk, raise the spectre of populist politics and put at risk the viability of the whole vital project. 

Read the story from Crikey by Jason Murphy - “Want to decarbonise faster? We need to become more productive.”

States leave federal government in the shade when it comes to renewables: report

NSW has the most large-scale renewable energy projects under way in Australia, and lifted its share of clean energy markedly in the past year, as states and territories take the lead in decarbonising the electricity sector, a report by the Climate Council has found.

The states are leading the way on
renewables, a new report finds. 

A jump in hydropower helped raise renewable energy share in NSW by 5 percentage points last year to 17 per cent. That was marginally above the national share of 16 per cent, and the second-biggest increase after South Australia.

The Climate Council, though, rated by the most populous state behind all but Western Australia and the Northern Territory. While NSW has a net-zero economy-wide emissions target for 2050, it has not set a goal for renewables.

By contrast, Victoria gained credit for its efforts to legislate this year a 25 per cent renewable energy share by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025. Last year, the state's share was 12 per cent, up one percentage point from 2015.

Read Peter Hannam’s in today’s Melbourne Age - “States leave federal government in the shade when it comes to renewables: report.”

Turnbull quietly commits Australia's support to decarbonising the world economy

T

he Turnbull government has quietly committed Australia to support decarbonising the world economy as one of the goals for this month's global climate summit in Paris, a move that has drawn applause.

Australia's PM, Malcolm Turnbull -
quietly commits Australia to the
idea of decarbonising the world economy.

With little fanfare, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull agreed on the sidelines of the G20 gathering with European leaders in Turkey this week that the language of the Paris agreement should agree on a long-term goal to ensure temperatures keep within an increase of 2 degrees on pre-industrial levels.

The terrorism attacks in Paris are also considered to be a reason Australia's shift was largely overlooked.

Read Peter Hannam and Tom Arup’s story in today’s Melbourne Age -“Paris 2015: Australia's quiet climate commitment to decarbonise the economy.”