Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions strategy is a policy failure

For instance, Australian governments have no reason to support coal power stations given that 2018 research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance concluded that new renewable energy is now the same cost or cheaper than existing coal power stations in New South Wales and Queensland due to the ongoing cost of wind and solar and the higher international price for black coal. This is why private companies are overwhelmingly choosing to invest in new renewable energy generation.

And, given that Labor has previously set an electrical vehicle target of 50% of new car sales by 2030, albeit it will merely encourage manufacturers and consumers to make the shift from petrol cars rather than regulate, several countries have indicated that they will no longer register new cars with combustion engines in future years. Norway, the Netherlands and the UK have set 2025 as a target for this; Ireland 2030, France, and Taiwan 2040.

In contrast to Australia, many nations have reduced carbon dioxide emissions that go beyond previous reductions after 1990 that were caused by the outsourcing emissions to other countries by moving manufacturing offshore to countries with a very coal-intensive electricity generation mix.

Leading the way is the United Kingdom (UK) which reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 40.6% between 1990 and 2017.

One report notes that the UK’s carbon dioxide level, which reduced by 38% between 1990 and 2017, would have been four times higher if change had not occurred through political leadership. The UK’s strategy included a 31% gain from a cleaner electricity mix based on gas and renewables instead of coal, 31% from reduced fuel consumption by business and industry, 18% from reduced electricity use mostly in the industrial and residential sectors, and 7% from changes in transport emissions with fewer miles driven per capita and more efficient vehicles.  

There are simply few excuses for Australia given that a risk management strategy alone provides ample reason for Australia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions much further, a strategy made more urgent by global warming predictions of more regular droughts and severe bushfires that will make Australia’s current greenhouse gas emissions strategy look even more ridiculous than it already is.