Mission accomplished? Labor and the climate wars

I am not really convinced that politicians want to prepare citizens for the kind of choices that lie ahead. Energy…we all depend on it, every day of our lives, every hour of our lives in some sense. And if we say actually we are going to try largely to eliminate the energy sources on which material life as we know it has gone on for a long time now…its quite hard to find words to describe what scale of change that will be.

Vaclav Smil, a Canadian-Czech energy polymath, echoes this sentiment, if not more bluntly:

…non-carbon energies could completely displace fossil carbon in a matter of one to three decades ONLY if we were willing to take substantial cuts to the standard of living in all affluent countries and deny the modernizing nations of Asia and Africa improvements in their collective lots by even a fraction of what China has done since 1980.

This is why we are seeing grassroot movements spring up in resistance to some of the most aggressive (and utopian) climate policies being enacted by government. Think the Gilet Jaunes in France in 2018 regarding Macron's fuel tax. Or more recently Dutch farmers protesting plans requiring nitrogen emissions to be slashed. Or the mess that is now Sri Lanka.

Let's also not forget the growing opposition to renewable energy and supporting transmission line projects around the world such as in Germany, the US and even in Australia. (See AusNet in Victoria; Wind Projects in Tasmania and Queensland).

Like in other parts of the world, much of this resistance will be initially in regional and rural areas - in what has been derogatorily termed as "fly over country" by some. Places that have the most to lose, should Government promises not eventuate or at least not in the form originally intended.

For the Coalition, especially the Nationals, the politics should be obvious. Especially given the many questions that remain unanswered on the how and what of achieving these targets. And more importantly, who will be most adversely affected. Perhaps the Coalition's recent tentative steps towards embracing nuclear energy signals a break from the me-too politics and attempt recast an alternative approach to climate and energy. Time will tell.

So in summary, no the 'Climate Wars' are not over. This is not a "Mission Accomplish" moment for Prime Minister Albanese and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. In the words of the great British statesman and wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill:

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.