Turnbull’s evolving climate strategy: When less is more

To see Foyster’s cartoon, please click here.

The Coalition government under Malcolm Turnbull has a rapidly evolving strategy on climate change and clean energy – announce new jobs and investments, but only after cutting even more jobs and investments.

Those were the allegations levelled at the Turnbull government on Tuesday after the CSIRO announced a new climate change research centre in what appears to be a patch-up job by innovation minister Christopher Pyne and environment minister Greg Hunt, and Hunt’s announcement of an “extra” $50 million for the Great Barrier Reef.

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The CSIRO cuts are particularly galling for the science community. A new division to be based in Hobart, combining with elements of the Bureau of Meteorology, will employ 40 climate scientists. But CSIRO chief Larry Marshall, intent on converting the CSIRO from focusing on the public good to revenue opportunities with business, says 75 jobs will still be lost from the climate division, albeit down from 110.

CSIRO climate scientists dismiss this as a “con” job. Professor Dave Griggs, a former director of Monash Sustainability Institute at Monash University said it was like “trying to put a sticking plaster over a gaping wound.”

Similarly, Hunt on Tuesday announced $50 million of “new” funding for the Great Barrier Reef, which the government has finally realised is under grave threat following the worst bleaching event on record, which has touched more than 90 per cent of the reef.

The Greens said: Not so fast, arguing that the funds simply replace monies cut in the past two years – $40 million from the Reef Water Quality Program in 2014, and $10 million from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

The recycled funding follows a similar pattern on clean energy. Hunt has used the proposed start of construction on a wind farm in northern NSW as proof that the government has brought clarity and stability to the industry. Instead, the Coalition’s policies have brought the industry to a standstill.

And last month, when the Turnbull government announced the creation of a “new” Clean Energy Innovation Fund, it did so only after shifting funds already allocated to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and announcing it would seek to rescind the $1.3 billion budget legislated for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

To see Foyster’s cartoon, please click here.
To see Foyster’s cartoon, please click here.

On climate, numbers are juggled in a different way. Hunt insists that Australia is on track to deliver its Kyoto target for 2020, which is true, because it is largely a book-keeping exercise borne out of a highly favourable agreement for Australia reached a decade ago.

The climate target that really matters – the one signed in New York last Friday under the Paris agreement – is more problematic. Australia’s target is well short of what is considered its fair share by every assessment bar the Coalition’s, which continues to rely on a “per capita” reduction calculation that places Australia at the bottom of the world ladder, along with the oil-guzzling Saudis.

Australia’s own data actually shows an increase in emissions in the coming decade, bar some as-yet unannounced policy measure. And while the Coalition may be relying on another fortunate piece of accounting, the Paris deal calls for the “decarbonisation” of the global economy. That means replacing fossil fuels with clean energy.

There is now a growing view that the cross-over point between the fossil fuel era and the debarbonised era may occur in the next five years.

This will coincide with further falls in the cost of solar, and a growing contribution to the world’s energy mix, and a big slump in the costs of battery storage, which will not only facilitate more renewables, both at grid level and “behind the meter” in households and businesses, but make electric vehicles something of a no-brainer for consumers.

Ray Kurzweil, the futurist who has made a host of noteworthy predictions, including the uptake of the internet, says he expects solar to become the dominant energy source within 12 years, pointing to the repeated doubling of solar’s share of energy production every two years.

“In 2012 solar panels were producing 0.5% of the world’s energy supply. Some people dismissed it, saying it’s a nice thing to do but at a half percent is a fringe player. That’s not going to solve the problem,’” Kurzweil said at a recent forum.

“They were ignoring the exponential growth — just as they ignored the exponential growth of the internet and human genome project. Half a per cent is only 8 doublings away from 100%.

“Now, four years later solar has doubled twice again. Now solar panels produce 2 per cent of the world’s energy, right on schedule. People dismiss it saying ‘2 per cent is nice, but a fringe player. That ignores the exponential growth, which means it is only 6 doublings or 12 years from 100 per cent.”

Not everyone is ignoring it. Oil major Total last week announced it was creating a new division focusing on renewables and “electricity” rather than transport fuels, with a goal to be one of world’s top three solar producers.

Saudi Arabia has repeated its focus on looking at a world beyond fossil fuels. The collapse in the oil price is estimated to cost Gulf states $500 billion in lost revenue in 2016, leaving them with bludgets barely capabe of affording the massive subsidies paid to fossil fuels.

And US defence major Lockheed Martin has announced its intention to go into the battery storage industry – this, as the French and India governments confirmed their pact to encourage $1 trillion in new investment in the solar industry under the International Solar Agreement first unveiled in Paris.

These examples barely scratch the surface of what’s going on around the world. It leaves the Australian economy, which continues to focus on commodities and to prostrate itself at the feet of the fossil fuel industry, with a clouded future.

The government, you would hope, is smart enough to see what is coming. It just doesn’t have the fortitude to share that view with the public, or tell the hard right ideologues to stop kidding themselves.

Comments

17 responses to “Turnbull’s evolving climate strategy: When less is more”

  1. SM Avatar
    SM

    We’re using the same mathematical logic but inverted when it comes to designing climate policy i.e. halving our commitment every 2 years until it disappears entirely

  2. Michael Rynn Avatar
    Michael Rynn

    Eventually the construction rates of battery storage and panels may come up against raw material supply constraints, as things that quickly double tend to do so, if the supply rates cannot double at the same time. Claims of 12 years to 100 per cent should be checked against all supply constraints.

    1. lin Avatar
      lin

      The good news about raw material supply constraints is that when raw materials become scarce, we learn how to use them more efficiently, and lots of smart people start thinking about alternative materials. Once there is a dollar to be made, lots of money is available to solve such problems.

    2. Barri Mundee Avatar
      Barri Mundee

      Of course, but this constraint is arguably a long way off yet, particularly if PV technology that uses materials that are in relative abundance become viable- soon.

    3. Chris Fraser Avatar
      Chris Fraser

      Yes it seems we’re going back to mining … but this time, for a lot more things, and a lot less polluting things.I think some of those energy companies should be looking out for opportunities for investment in RE.

  3. lin Avatar
    lin

    “The government, you would hope, is smart enough to see what is coming.”
    Not a chance! Our only hope is that we get a weekly doubling of swinging voters who realise that voting for this bunch of conflicted idiots makes absolutely no sense, and vote for someone (anyone!) else at the next election.

  4. howardpatr Avatar
    howardpatr

    Cayman Turnbull is becoming a joke – 90% of the tax benefits go to those in the top 10% of earners but that is irrelevant to old Cayman. That is an example of how this mant thinks so what hope is there for a renewable energy future under such a person.

    However if there is some rent seeking in the renewable energy industry of the future Cayman and Mrs Turnbull will be right into it.

  5. John Saint-Smith Avatar
    John Saint-Smith

    The saddest thing about the Abboutt Turn being made by our present government is that at the end of nearly 3 years of LNP government we will end up with the same policies and the same level of funding we had when the cringers elected this ship of fools to ‘fix Labor’s mess’. Incredibly, Turnbull will be rewarded by the same deluded electorate for his ‘agility’, forward thinking, and devotion to ‘jobs and growth’..
    But in reality, we have lost 3 irreplaceable years from our desperate challenge to save the planet from the catastrophic collapse of all its fragile ecosystems.

  6. Terry J Wall Avatar
    Terry J Wall

    Beats the hell out of me how Turnbull turned so quickly from sounding like a leader; pre election, to a Neocon Lapdog. His switch from go to whow makes Obama’s record like one from an ill disciplined school kid.
    He has to stop listening to lobbyists, stop subsidizing fossil fools, stop watching Fox News, stop reading MSM and listen to his voters, other wise he is another one term disaster. It is so unfortunate to waste what little time most of us expect that we have.

    1. riley222 Avatar
      riley222

      The backroom boys have told Turnbull they’re in survival mode, so its back to basics with the tried and true. No1 is win the next election above all else.
      Starting to feel if they do win , their just desserts will come. Financial troubles plus general discontent in the electorate will mean even Turnbull won’t be able to sell a business as usual climate and energy policy.
      Add in the Senate, however that may end , maybe with a double disillusionment, a complete stalemate. Got a feeling its going to be a long three years.
      The tipping point??

  7. phred01 Avatar
    phred01

    Turnbull govn’t is re-allocating clean energy monies to build a new coal fired power station….This should put Australia on the road on de-carbonizing the economy the liberal way

  8. Cooma Doug Avatar
    Cooma Doug

    If Lord Monkton spoke of LNP policies on our energy future it would make more logical points then anything LNP have said in 16 years. It would be 100% BS but a better story.

    1. solarguy Avatar
      solarguy

      Doug, you do realize that he isn’t a Lord, don’t you?

      1. Cooma Doug Avatar
        Cooma Doug

        He looks a lot like a prarie dog with those crazy eyes.

        I did read an article on his fake identity issues but dont care much now. He is an asset to the green movement now. You just have to mention his name.

        1. solarguy Avatar
          solarguy

          The anti climate change lobby think he’s a hero.

  9. john Avatar
    john

    The sheer front of this man shows no end.
    ” Hunt has used the proposed start of construction on a wind farm in northern NSW as proof that the government has brought clarity and stability to the industry.”
    The dismantling of RE was the goal and they very effectively did that as much as possible.
    To add insult to injury another inquiry, which is going to find it very difficult to sort out the source of infra sound.
    It really is not amusing watching this soap opera play out.

  10. Rob Avatar
    Rob

    Vote Greens!

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