Australia should lead the world in tackling the climate emergency
Aug 24, 2024
The scientific advice is clear; the world is tracking towards a climate catastrophe. Shamefully, the Australian government is contributing to the risk of a catastrophe with its support for fossil fuels, especially with its plan for a long-term expansion of gas production. This is a major policy failure.
Australia is highly prone to extreme weather events that are being exacerbated by climate change, and should be advocating globally for the strongest possible action to minimise the climate threat. Climate scientists have made it clear that the critical requirement to minimise the threat is to rapidly reduce the burning of fossil fuels, and phase out these fuels as quickly as is responsibly possible. Both Labor and the Coalition, when in power, ignore this requirement. My previous articles (1, 2, 3) provide a package of information and proposals aimed at forcing the Australian government to stop supporting ongoing gas and coal extraction. This article complements those articles by providing additional information and ideas to assist the proposed expert group in developing a campaign strategy.
Unmitigated climate change would be a disaster for Australia. A Deloitte Access Economics report in November 2020 provided extensive information regarding the costs for Australia of unmitigated climate change. The report included the staggering information that by 2070, $3.4 trillion and more than 880,000 jobs would be lost in Australia’s economy from unchecked climate change.
A 2017 DAE report provided information about the Great Barrier Reef. The report stated that the Reef has an economic, social and icon asset value of $56 billion, supports 64,000 jobs and contributes $6.4 billion annually to the Australian economy. The report also stated that the Reef supports 39,000 direct jobs in Australia, with Australian oil and gas extraction supporting 19,000 jobs. The up-to-date situation is that the bleaching and death of corals has become a regular occurrence as ocean temperatures continue to increase. The scientific advice is clear: if greenhouse gases continue to be emitted, primarily coming from the burning of fossil fuels, the Reef will eventually lose its value as a tourist attraction.
Apart from the economic costs of unmitigated climate change, the social impacts would be disastrous. These would include increasingly dangerous floods, droughts and bushfires and an inevitable increase in climate-related deaths.
Unmitigated climate change would also almost certainly create a serious threat to national security as people globally become displaced as a consequence of large parts of the world becoming uninhabitable, and look for new places to live. There would be a high probability of regional and international conflict.
This information makes it clear it is in Australia’s interests for there to be a planned, equitable and rapid global phase-out of fossil fuels. Australia could lead the way in promoting this. The Albanese government’s main focus is on achieving its target of 82% renewable energy by 2030. Whilst this is a bold and commendable target, it is the speed at which fossil fuels are phased out that will determine to what extent Australia and the rest of the world avoids the worst consequences of climate change. The most beneficial thing Australia could do to mitigate the climate threat would be to advocate for a global plan to phase out fossil fuels. It would resonate globally if Australia, a major exporter of gas and coal, proposed this initiative. And Australia is ideally placed to do this. This country has huge solar and wind potential and could become self-sufficient in energy, with excess capacity. This abundance of clean energy provides Australia the opportunity to achieve large economic benefits from a global transition to clean energy. This could be done by developing clean energy manufacturing in sectors of the economy where Australia potentially has a competitive cost advantage. However, if the world fails to phase out fossil fuels quickly enough, the future will be about dealing with increasingly destructive climate-related events, not reaping the benefits of a clean energy future.
Negotiating a global agreement for the phase-out of fossil fuels is, of course, a huge challenge. But leaving it to individual countries to chart their own course to meet a global objective, such as the COP process, was never going to work. Tackling the need to phase-out fossil fuels is complex and requires a global plan. If Australia advocated for a global agreement, this would initiate talks about the need for such an agreement, and would be a good initial step. Creating an agreement would require the development of a strategy for the equitable phase-out of fossil fuels. Special consideration would need to be given to poor nations, many with massive debt that makes it impossible for them to finance the decarbonising of their economies. Another challenge that would have to be addressed is that poor countries with fossil fuel reserves are planning to develop this resource. And why wouldn’t they if rich nations don’t support them economically and financially to avoid them having to develop their reserves of fossil fuels?
Even if the world was united in accepting the need for fossil fuels to be phased out, obtaining global support for an equitable agreement would be a major challenge. What makes the challenge much more difficult is that many governments, including the Australian Government, are influenced by the fossil fuel industry, that is doing all it can to ensure a long-term future for fossil fuels.
Sadly, it might prove impossible to achieve a global agreement to phase out fossil fuels, but this doesn’t justify not trying to achieve one. When the alternative to phasing out fossil fuels is climate chaos, Australia would be doing the world a service by promoting such an initiative. Even having the debate would be a major step forward.
My previous articles have provided information that makes it clear there is no chance the Albanese Government will advocate for the global phase-out of fossil fuels. I have made the case that change will have to be forced on the government, and I have proposed a strategy aimed at achieving this. People with the capability to initiate action to implement the strategy should back my strategy. Alternatively, if there is a better way to get the Government to stop supporting the ongoing extraction of gas and coal this will be great. However, any alternative strategy must be based on the recognition that Australian Governments will not be persuaded to withdraw support for fossil fuels; the community will have to demand change. Climate change threatens life on earth and there is no time to wait and hope the politicians will eventually change policies. We need to act now and do all we can to force change.
You might also be interested to read Ken Russell’s previous articles: