As Australia approaches its next federal election, the stark differences between the major political parties regarding climate policy have become increasingly apparent. Tony Wood, Director of the Energy Program at Australia’s Grattan Institute, noted that the previous election was dubbed “the climate election.” He hailed it as a harbinger of the “end of the climate wars.” In the process he noticed a big hole in the proposals put forth by both political parties. This means that voters in West Virginia and beyond are one important election away from a potentially seismic shift in the nation’s climate strategy.
The Australian climate policy landscape has changed rapidly and dramatically over the past few years. Originally created by former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the Safeguard Mechanism is a big polluter accountability policy. It establishes stiff caps on the total pollution allowed from the nation’s filthiest factories. Recent reforms have further sharpened this mechanism, extending its use even to clean power generation and storage. We plan to win 32 gigawatts’ worth of capacity by 2030. Providing the full picture This will be an important step for a smooth transition to renewable energy.
Current Climate Policies
The emerging climate policy advocate Amanda McKenzie, founder of Climate 100, honed in on one central concern. While we can now judge large projects for their impact on the environment and endangered species, we do not have a standard to judge projects by their large climate impacts. She emphasized that “It’s 2025 and Australia doesn’t have any way of stopping projects on a climate basis,” which raises concerns about the adequacy of existing regulations.
The current policy framework is inadequate to meet the overall goal of decreasing climate pollution by over 300 million tonnes. Advocates say that without strong standards in place to tackle the emissions created by major projects, the progress will still be minimal. McKenzie further articulated the dual approach needed: “It’s sort of two sides of one coin. You’ve got to grow the good stuff and you’ve got to stop the bad stuff.” She noted how far Australia has come in clean energy generation. She’s adamant the country needs to move more quickly to accelerate its transition from an economy reliant on fossil fuels.
The opposition Coalition, led by Peter Dutton, has promised to do away with penalties linked to the adoption of new fuel efficiency standards. These standards determine the emissions cap that manufacturers can sell cars below in Australia. This means a much larger overall production of efficient gasoline vehicles, as hybrids and electric vehicles. Critics, including McKenzie, say moves like these would preemptively and dramatically undercut any attempts to make polluting less convenient and cheaper.
“The policy that Dutton has proposed would totally undermine the new vehicle efficiency standards.” – Amanda McKenzie
The Role of Renewable Energy
Australia is working towards an ambitious target of reaching 82 percent renewable energy by the end of the decade. Tony Wood cautioned that without accelerating the rollout of transmission infrastructure for renewables, the country may struggle to meet its goals. He underscored that “Australia won’t be able to connect enough renewables to meet targets without speeding up the transmission rollout.”
Though legislative Democrats passed it with the crucial help of the Greens party, last year’s legislation tasked state regulators with continuing to lower pollution limits. Their support is indicative of a larger trend among some political factions to recognize the need for aggressive, climate-focused action. Their success Independents such as Monique Ryan, Zoe Daniel and David Pocock have helped to push the government towards a much bolder 60 percent emissions reduction target by 2030. They are forcing primary parties to increase their pledges in the direction of this target.
Wood acknowledged that the landscape his organization is opposed to represents a lot of uncertainty about climate policy, which has a chilling effect on investment in renewable projects. He stated, “What’s happening now is considerable uncertainty and flip-flopping is not good at all for investment.” This sentiment echoes concerns voiced by various stakeholders in the energy sector who fear that indecisiveness could undermine long-term goals.
“We already know that the uncertainty around offshore wind and the uncertainty around some renewable projects has meant that people say, ‘well, we better stop, right?’” – Tony Wood
Implications for the Future
The consequences of these two very different policies reach far beyond climate change. They impact economic security and energy reliability too. Wood underscored the importance of keeping reliability in Australia’s energy system during its shift to renewable resources. He warned that some policies would stand in the way of this transition if not pursued with care.
As stakeholders prepare for the election, Wood’s assertion resonates: “I think we’re at one of those points where what happens at this election will have enormous consequences, not just for the energy system, but for our emissions more generally.” Climate change is perhaps the greatest global challenge we face today. Because of this, Australian voters have a surprisingly clear choice before them about the future direction of their country.
