Mission accomplished? Labor and the climate wars

Remember in 2003 after the US and its Coalition allies invaded Iraq, swiftly sweeping aside its defenders and toppling the Saddam Hussein regime in a matter of weeks through the use of 'shock and awe', that then President George W. Bush Jnr was quick to declare the Second Gulf War "Mission accomplished".

Yet the US and its allies were soon to find that the war was not over. Only that it had merely changed. For the next 8 years the US-led Coalition was to be bogged down a messy, protracted and costly conflict.

History is littered with such examples.

Having secured the passing of its Climate Change Bill through both houses of Parliament thanks to support from the Greens, who hold the balance of power in the Senate, the newly minted Albanese Labor government is keen to declare the 'Climate Wars' over.

However, Albanese and his cabinet would do well to heed the lessons of history in its rush to make such a declaration. If anything, the Climate Wars are only just starting to heat up and move into a new and perhaps more dangerous phase - politically dangerous that is, for the government.

The reason for this is obvious. The path to achieving 43 per cent cut in emissions on 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050 is not clear cut. Nor will it be easy or cost-free, despite claims by the Government and others.

The Albanese Government will need to bridge the vast gulf between its wishful and uber-optimistic rhetoric on climate and energy and the physical and material realities of modern world. This may prove to be a bridge too far.

The Greens already have signalled their intention to harass the Government at every opportunity to secure even deeper cuts, faster and harder, while also stopping new coal and gas developments.

Nor does legislation guarantee anything. Canada, Germany, and New Zealand have all legislated targets in one form or another. But these nations have made little progress in reducing their emissions, despite ratcheting up their targets time and again, to much applause.

Speaking on ABC's Radio National in February this year, Cambridge University's Professor of Political Economy Helen Thompson, author of the book Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century, made this point regarding the transition to net zero by 2050.

The Governments that have introduced commitments to net zero by 2050 haven't thus far presented that to their citizens in a way that allows their citizens to see what an enormous change it will be and it will quite likely, particularly in western democracies, require sacrifice.

Professor Thompson went on to say that: