Climate change, driven by pollution from burning fossil fuels, is already impacting the complex ecosystems we depend on for healthy and prosperous lives, damaging the habitats of important animal, insect and plant species, and threatening iconic natural places like the Great Barrier Reef.  To better protect Australians from climate harm, we must curb new and expanded coal, oil and gas projects. The Government has the opportunity to achieve this through its reforms to the EPBC Act, however, the current proposed reforms fall well short of what is required to address climate change and protect our environment.

The Government’s current proposed reforms would: 

• Create a new climate loophole – requiring the disclosure of direct emissions from projects, while prohibiting this information from being factored into approval decisions.
• Undermine Australia’s climate progress, by continuing to allow fossil fuel projects, including 42 already in the pipeline, to be approved unchecked – even if their domestic emissions put our climate targets at risk.
• Enable polluting projects to be fast-tracked, with no prioritisation of environmentally responsible clean energy projects essential to cutting climate pollution.
• Fail to address existing loopholes, which allow land clearing and native logging to continue without proper federal assessment.

The failure to tackle climate in these reforms lies in stark contrast to the Albanese Labor Government’s efforts to cut climate pollution – including our climate targets, policies, and international commitment to contribute to the global goals of keeping warming well below 2ºC. An effective, modern national environment law can deliver on the Government’s objectives of boosting productivity and enabling vital projects like responsible renewable energy, critical minerals and housing, while protecting the environment from climate harm and other risks. 

The Climate Council has long advocated for comprehensive reforms to the EPBC Act which protect the environment from climate harm. This includes the addition of a “safe and liveable climate” as a Matter of National Environmental Significance, a reform often referred to as a ‘climate trigger’. The Climate Council maintains that this comprehensive reform is the clearest option to genuinely protect the environment from climate harm, and contribute to limiting climate change in line with global goals. 

However, acknowledging that the Albanese Government has ruled out this particular change, there is still a critical opportunity for reform. Even without a climate trigger, there are plenty of ways this bill could be stronger on climate. Currently, neither Australia’s current laws and policies, or these proposed reforms, manage the risk posed by the unchecked expansion of highly-polluting coal, oil and gas projects. As a result, new and expanding projects which undermine our domestic climate targets and key policies like the Safeguard Mechanism can proceed unchecked.

Three sensible improvements can align Australia’s national environment law with our climate policy

• provide for disclosure, assessment and control of climate pollution – to ensure our climate targets and key policies to cut climate pollution (notably the Safeguard Mechanism) are not undermined;
• accelerate the energy and infrastructure we need – not the polluting projects we don’t; and
• close climate-polluting loopholes that allow lands to be cleared and native forests logged.

The Climate Council urges the Government and Parliament to recognise the significant risks and shortcomings in the proposed reforms and take action to strengthen the laws to better protect our environment, and Australian communities, from escalating climate harm.

The post Submission: Senate Inquiry – Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and six related bills appeared first on Climate Council.

Australians are already living with more frequent and severe fires, floods and heatwaves, driven by escalating climate pollution. Yet persistent mis- and disinformation about climate science, renewable energy and the energy transition continues to distort public debate, undermine community confidence, and delay essential action. These campaigns—often amplified by actors with vested interests—have real-world consequences: they slow investment, increase costs, and leave communities more exposed to risk.

For a decade, non-government organisations like the Climate Council have filled an information gap. Born from the community response to the abolition of the former Climate Commission in 2013, we have produced hundreds of independent, evidence-based publications and engaged thousands of media stories to help Australians make informed decisions. But the scale and sophistication of today’s information harms demand co-ordinated national leadership.

The Australian Government now has both the responsibility and opportunity to strengthen information integrity. Australians need clear, reliable information about how the energy transition affects households, regions and jobs; and our electoral and advertising rules must reflect contemporary expectations so people can vote on facts, not falsehoods. 

The National Climate Risk Assessment released this month underscores what is at stake: climate change threatens our way of life across every sector and region. Australia will only meet this challenge by rapidly cutting pollution from coal, oil and gas and scaling clean energy — and by tackling mis- and disinformation that erodes trust in the solutions we need.

findings

• Misinformation and disinformation are widespread across Australian media and politics, and have become a major barrier to effective climate action – undermining public trust in science, skewing public debate and delaying coordinated policy development. 
• Climate mis- and disinformation in Australia is not isolated or incidental. It is systematic and well-funded. For decades, fossil fuel interests and allies have seeded false narratives to protect their commercial positions and profits. 
• Astroturfing has become a defining tactic in Australia’s climate disinformation landscape, distorting democratic debate by presenting orchestrated, funded campaigns as authentic, grassroots community opposition.
• Major Australian organisations responsible for spreading climate misinformation are linked to coordinated international networks, amplifying reach and influence. 
• Bots, trolls and inauthentic accounts accelerate the spread of climate mis- and disinformation, shaping the national narrative and drowning out credible information.
• For too long, combating mis-and disinformation has been left to non-government organisations. Leadership from the Australian Government is urgently needed in tackling this serious issue.
• Australians need transparent, accessible and reliable information on how the energy transition impacts them. They need confidence that they are voting on facts, not falsehoods; and the Government needs to tackle the dangerous spread of misinformation through bots, trolls and inauthentic social media accounts.

RecommendationS

Establish Local Energy Hubs to provide communities with accessible, tailored, accurate information about what renewables mean for their region

The current top-down approach to planning and delivery of renewable energy projects often leaves communities feeling excluded from decision-making. This lack of agency can create distrust, fuel fears, and leave space for mis- and disinformation to spread unchecked. To address this, the Australian Government should work with state and local governments to establish Local Energy Hubs within Renewable Energy Zones (REZs). These hubs would:

• Serve as trusted, independent sources of information tailored to local contexts, ensuring communities can easily access clear and factual explanations of what renewable projects mean for their region.
• Provide a point of contact for residents seeking advice and answers, reducing the influence of misinformation circulating on social media and in local networks.
• Act as an intermediary between renewable energy developers and local communities, improving transparency, fostering dialogue, and building trust in the planning process.
• Facilitate structured opportunities for communities to give input on large-scale renewable projects, ensuring that feedback is considered early and meaningfully.

By embedding reliable, locally tailored information within communities, Energy Hubs can help prevent the spread of mis- and disinformation, build social licence for renewable projects, and ensure communities see themselves as partners rather than bystanders in Australia’s energy transition. The Local Energy Hubs campaign is backed by more than 65 organisations, from community groups to peak environment and industry bodies (RE-Alliance 2025).

Reform political donation and advertising laws to ensure Australians can make informed decisions at the ballot box

Australians deserve a fair, transparent democracy where decisions are not distorted by vested interests or hidden money. In February this year, the biggest changes to our electoral funding laws in decades were passed in a deal between Labor and the Coalition. While the amendments include some welcome changes such as lower disclosure thresholds, they will severely limit the ability of not-for-profits like the Climate Council to advocate and counter the spread of mis- and disinformation during election periods, through a provision that prevents the use of untied or general donations for use on electoral advocacy. At the same time, the changes do little to crack down on the real threat to democracy: the influence of vested interests and big corporate donors. 

The problems with Australia’s electoral funding laws are compounded by the fact that there is no requirement for truth in political advertising. The Electoral Act prohibits the publication of material likely to mislead or deceive Australians only after an election has been called. An election campaign often begins well before an election is officially called, yet outside that window there is no requirement for political advertising to be factual, leaving voters exposed to unchecked misinformation. Polling by The Australia Institute shows that 89% of Australians support the introduction of truth in political advertising laws (The Australia Institute 2025). 

Despite recent attempts by independents Kate Chaney, Zali Steggall and David Pocock to deliver desperately needed reforms, our laws continue to lag behind community expectations. Before the next Federal Election, due in 2028, the Australian Government should introduce – or support – legislation to restore integrity to Australia’s democracy, curb the influence of vested interests, including the fossil fuel industry, and ensure voters have access to accurate information. Key reforms include:

• Increase transparency of political donations, including lower disclosure thresholds, caps on expenditure and real-time disclosure, so Australians can clearly see who is funding campaigns against climate action.
• Pass truth in political advertising laws – like those recently introduced into Parliament by Zali Steggall MP and Senator David Pocock–  requiring campaign ads to be factual and empowering an independent body to undertake compliance activities.
• Repeal restrictions that limit charities and community organisations from engaging in public debate during election periods, ensuring non-government organisations like the Climate Council can continue to provide accurate, evidence-based information on issues of significant public interest.

Identify and implement appropriate mechanisms to improve regulation and management of bots, trolls and inauthentic accounts on social media 

Bots and trolls regularly amplify misleading climate denial and anti-renewable narratives. Bots use sophisticated techniques to avoid detection, and it is often extremely difficult to identify them. Support from social media platforms, where it exists at all, is negligible in effect, and has deteriorated since the removal of fact-checking from Meta and X/Twitter.

Given the challenges in identifying bot accounts, any actions to address this issue should be informed by consultation with industry, and learnings from existing work in Australia and overseas, to ensure measures are practical and achievable. Existing work in Australia  includes the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) voluntary arrangements to combat mis- and disinformation, Australian Electoral Commission’s Disinformation Register and work of the eSafety Commissioner.

Action to address this issue could include developing legislation to require platforms to remove bot accounts that impersonate humans, and clearly label all legitimate bot accounts, as recommended by Senator David Pocock last year (Parliament of Australia 2024).

Climate mis- and disinformation in Australia is not isolated or incidental; it is systematic, well funded and increasingly coordinated across borders. For decades, fossil fuel interests and their allies have seeded false narratives to protect profits, now amplified by ostensibly “independent” groups with clear links to industry and partisan politics. These campaigns manufacture fear and division, erode trust in science, and slow the rollout of clean energy projects essential to reducing risk to Australian lives, livelihoods and ecosystems. With high-profile global figures and political leaders continuing to deny climate science, the risk is growing. Without decisive government action to strengthen information integrity and ensure communities can access evidence-based, factual information, mis- and disinformation will continue to undermine our democracy and stall the urgent clean-energy transition Australia needs to reduce climate harms and create a safer, more prosperous future.

The post Submission: climate mis-and disinformation inquiry appeared first on Climate Council.

In the first half of 2025 alone, communities across NSW have experienced heatwaves, a tropical cyclone, record-breaking flooding and a ‘cyclone bomb’, compounding the effects of back-to-back extreme weather events in recent years. These kinds of disasters are no longer simply ‘natural’. Climate-fuelled disasters are becoming more frequent and intense, and communities are feeling the consequences. They also come with a significant financial cost: the most recent State Budget shows expenditure on natural disasters has increased more than 1000% in the six years since the 2019-20 bushfires compared to the six years prior (NSW Government 2025).

On our current trajectory, these impacts will become more severe. Both of the temperature limits in the Paris Agreement will be breached, either temporarily or indefinitely, if we do not rapidly change course. Every fraction of a degree of avoided warming matters, and will be measured in lives and livelihoods saved, fewer families forced from their homes, and a safer future for our children (Climate Council 2025).

As Australia’s second highest polluting state, accounting for one quarter of the country’s emissions, NSW has a responsibility – enshrined in its Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023 – to play its part in meeting globally agreed goals. We welcome the work underway across NSW to address emissions from fossil fuels including the NSW Guide for Large Emitters, the NSW High Emitting Industries Fund, development of a Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Guide for NSW Coal Mines, and commitment to review the Strategic Statement on Coal Exploration and Mining in NSW. We also acknowledge that many issues require national coordination, and the Australian Government is progressing work such as the Expert panel on Atmospheric Measurement of Fugitive Methane Emissions in Australia and amendments to fugitive methane reporting methods. However, these initiatives do not address the fundamental issue: dealing with climate change means dealing with our fossil fuel industry and its polluting exports.

To meet its legislated targets and protect its communities and economy, NSW must cut climate pollution as steeply and rapidly as possible. This requires ending the approval of new and expanded fossil fuel projects, and ensuring existing projects take urgent action to cut their emissions. NSW must also acknowledge the enormous contribution of exported NSW coal to global climate pollution. 

Recommendations

The continued approval of fossil fuel expansions is incompatible with NSW’s climate targets and obligations under the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023.

• End the approval of new and expanded coal mines.

NSW’s emissions data and projections are likely to significantly underestimate the fugitive emissions from NSW’s coal mines.

• Progress state-based regulatory reforms to improve the accuracy of fugitive emissions measurement.

Climate pollution produced by burning Australian fossil fuels overseas affects the climate in the same way as if they were burnt in Australia – driving damaging climate impacts and harming Australian communities.

• Increase transparency of, and accountability for, the impacts of NSW’s exported fossil fuels.

Methane abatement in the fossil fuel industry is one of the most pragmatic and lowest cost options to reduce climate pollution.

• Require NSW’s most polluting coal mines to cut their methane emissions as a condition of continued approval to operate.

Climate impacts are a significant – and growing – cost to NSW’s communities, businesses, industries and government.

• Increase investment in adaptation and resilience alongside action to cut climate pollution.

Decommissioned coal mines represent a potential major source of emissions if not managed appropriately.

• Require all mining companies to comprehensively plan for methane mitigation beyond the end of operations.

Continued gas extraction also presents a major risk to NSW’s emissions targets.

• Set a clear plan to reduce gas demand in NSW through the Gas Decarbonisation Strategy.

The post Submission: Inquiry into emissions from the fossil fuel sector appeared first on Climate Council.

In the first half of 2025 alone, communities across NSW have experienced heatwaves, a tropical cyclone, record-breaking flooding and most recently a ‘cyclone bomb’, compounding the effects of back-to-back extreme weather events in recent years. These kinds of disasters are no longer simply natural. Extreme rainfall events have become more frequent and intense, and communities are suffering the consequences again and again. Without urgent action to cut climate pollution, extreme weather conditions like these will intensify, leading to more disruption, dislocation, and loss of life. Not only will this devastate communities, it comes with a significant financial cost: the most recent State Budget shows expenditure on natural disasters has increased more than 1000 per cent in the six years since the 2019-20 bushfires compared to the six years prior.

In June this year, the NSW Government announced that according to its updated projections, the state is just shy of its target of a 50 per cent cut in climate pollution by 2030, and the target of a 70 per cent reduction by 2035 is further out of grasp. We commend the NSW Government’s commitment to develop a new Net Zero Plan to ensure its targets are reached. However, even this will fall short of what is required: to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, Australia can and must cut climate pollution by 75 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, and to net zero by 2035.

As Australia’s second largest polluter, accounting for one quarter of the country’s emissions, NSW needs to step up its climate ambition and play its part in meeting globally agreed goals. Through the next Net Zero Plan the NSW Government, on the advice of the Net Zero Commission, must set a clear and ambitious direction for rapid
cuts in climate pollution. NSW must end the extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas. It must power its homes, businesses and transport systems with clean technologies that we already know work, and share the benefits equitably across NSW’s communities. The NSW Government must protect the state’s forest carbon stores, and scale up investment to adapt and build resilience to the impacts of climate change across the state.

Importantly, the shift to a zero emissions economy can be done in ways that benefit the community by putting downward pressure on power bills, creating employmen opportunities, empowering First Nations communities, increasing competitiveness and bringing many other economic and social benefits. Shifting to renewables and electrifying NSW homes, businesses and vehicles will protect NSW from the global energy price shocks that are again impacting communities.

For more information on many of our recommendations, see the Climate Council’s Seize the Decade Report, which identifies practical actions that governments at all levels can take to reduce Australia’s climate pollution by 75 per cent by 2030.

Recommendations

Work to cut pollution further and faster this decade 

• Adopt the highest level of ambition to limit global warming to well below 2°C

Enable a rapid increase in large-scale renewables through meaningful community engagement

• Enable community-led hosting of renewable energy infrastructure
• Establish Community Energy Hubs in renewable energy zones
• Address barriers to First Nations participation in the shift to renewables

Slash climate pollution and lower the cost of living with rooftop solar and batteries

• Expand initiatives to install solar and batteries on NSW’s public housing  
• Scale up innovative solutions for groups who can’t install their own solar and storage
• Support commercial and industrial facilities to install solar and batteries
• Collaborate with other governments to require solar on all new homes across Australia

Accelerate the move to shared, active and electric transport

• Accelerate implementation of key actions from the Future Transport Strategy to improve the state’s public transport systems 
• Increase support for the rollout of vehicle-to-grid technology 

Protect NSW’s forest carbon stores

• End native forest logging
• Strengthen regulations and increase council resourcing to reduce clearing on private land

Scale up investment in low emissions agricultural practices 

• Refine, scale and incentivise uptake of agricultural feed additives and other low emissions agriculture solutions

Coordinate the development of clean energy and industries in key locations

• Empower the Future Jobs and Investment Authority to establish Renewable Energy Industrial Precincts 

Urgently address fugitive emissions from coal mining

• End the approval of new and expanded coal mines
• Require existing mines to cut their methane pollution as a condition of continued approval to operate
• Require all mining companies to comprehensively plan for methane mitigation beyond the end of operations 

Increase transparency and accountability for NSW’s contribution to global climate pollution

• Require the Scope 3 emissions from coal facilities to be included in emissions reporting

Electrify NSW homes and businesses

• All-electric new homes and commercial buildings
• Mandate electric replacements when gas appliances reach their end-of-life
• Set energy performance standards for existing residential properties, including rentals
• Introduce mandatory disclosure of home energy performance

Increase investment in adaptation and resilience

• Increase investment in climate change adaptation and disaster resilience

Ensure decision-making adequately takes into account climate risks 

• Apply a science-aligned approach to climate change adaptation and resilience decision-making and planning

• Provide guidance to decision-makers on applying effective policy interventions for different levels of climate risk exposure and their impacts

The post Submission: NSW Net Zero Commission 2025 consultation appeared first on Climate Council.

We commend the City of Sydney for its commitment to action on climate change including a target of net zero climate pollution by 2035 to ensure that Sydney plays its part in slashing climate pollution rapidly and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. With gas accounting for nearly a quarter of the City of Sydney’s energy use, electrification will be critical to meeting the City’s emissions reduction target. The benefits of electrification will grow as more renewable power enters the grid over the coming years, and the City of Sydney can take hold of this opportunity to slash climate pollution, reduce energy bills and support improved health outcomes for its residents.

As one of Australia’s largest cities, Sydney’s actions to address climate change can make a significant contribution to the country’s total emissions and set an important example for other cities to follow.

Recommendations

Planning controls

The Climate Council recommends that the City of Sydney proceeds with all options presented in the discussion paper:

1. Continue with controls to address indoor gas appliances in new residential development
2. Expand controls to domestic hot water systems in new residential development
3. Implement controls for new non-residential development
4. Expand to major alterations and additions
5. Provide flexibility in specific circumstances

We also encourage the City of Sydney to show leadership in considering mechanisms to require and/or incentivise the conversion of centralised gas hot water systems in apartment buildings.

Timing

These changes should all be implemented as soon as possible – ideally from 2026. The electric alternatives to most gas uses in residential and non-residential buildings are well established, and every day that new builds are permitted to install gas locks in years of additional, unnecessary climate pollution and infrastructure that will become stranded in the future – costing Sydneysiders and our planet.

We recognise that some flexibility will be needed for some commercial and industrial gas users. However, with appropriate transition arrangements in place, the majority of new developments in Sydney can be all-electric from 2026, and all new builds – both residential and non-residential – can be electric-ready.

The post Submission: City of Sydney consultation on electrification of new development appeared first on Climate Council.

In the first months of this year, Victorians have experienced climate whiplash, with the state almost simultaneously experiencing heatwaves, fires, storms and flash floods. While fires in the summer season are common, climate pollution is making rapid, wild swings in conditions more likely.  Without urgent action to cut climate pollution, extreme weather conditions like these will intensify, creating more disruption, dislocation, devastation and loss of life. 

Victoria’s next statewide climate change strategy will take us through to the end of this critical decade for climate action. The strategy must set the direction for rapid cuts in climate pollution by phasing fossil fuels as fast as possible, and replacing them with technologies that we already know work. 

We note that Victoria recently brought forward its net zero target from 2050 to 2045, with interim targets including a 45-50% reduction on 2005 levels by 2030. While this is an improvement on Victoria’s previous targets, it is not nearly enough. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, Australia must cut climate pollution by 75% on 2005 levels by 2030, and to net zero by 2035 (Climate Council 2024a). 

As one of Australia’s largest polluting states, accounting for 20% of the country’s emissions, Victoria needs to step up its climate ambition and play its part in meeting globally agreed goals.  The Climate Council recommends seven priority areas to strengthen and build on existing work through Victoria’s next climate change strategy.

Recommendations

1. Help cut the cost of living for Victorians while slashing climate pollution with rooftop solar and batteries

• Install free solar and batteries on public housing
• Support Victorians who can’t install their own solar and batteries to access community solar banks, gardens and batteries
• Collaborate with other governments to require solar and storage on certain new buildings

2. Enable a rapid increase in large-scale renewables through meaningful community engagement

• Enable community-led hosting of renewable energy infrastructure
• Fund Community Energy Coordinators in local government areas within Renewable Energy Zones (REZ)

3. Keep up the momentum and get Victorians off gas

• Reduce demand for gas and commit to stop offering new exploration licences for onshore gas exploration

4. Support Victoria’s manufacturing businesses to cut climate pollution, reduce operating costs and stay competitive

• Actively engage with large gas users
• Support businesses to access professional advice
• Expand the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) Program

5. Accelerate the move to shared and active transport

• Implement key recommendations in Victoria’s draft 30-year infrastructure strategy

6. Protect and restore Victoria’s landscapes

• Strengthen regulations to reduce land clearing on private land
• Increase council resourcing to improve enforcement and early intervention of illegal land clearing
• Continue to invest in research, development and extension for low emissions agriculture solutions

7. Adapt and build resilience to the impacts of climate change

• Develop a state disaster mitigation plan
• Assess local government disaster preparedness, response and recovery capacity and capability
• Examine the feasibility of developing a Victorian Household Resilience Program

The post Submission: Victoria’s 2026-30 Climate Change Strategy appeared first on Climate Council.

Trusted, independent experts including the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), energy regulators and the Climate Change Authority have been clear: nuclear is an unviable, uneconomic and inappropriate energy solution for Australia. As such, the Climate Council is concerned that nuclear energy is a distraction from the urgent tasks of slashing climate pollution and replacing rapidly retiring coal power.

We are concerned that proponents of nuclear energy are selling it to the Australian community as a ‘silver bullet’ for our energy needs, when it is more like a ‘dragging anchor’ that would delay progress on necessary action and investment.

As this Committee’s work will ultimately inform Australia’s future energy mix, it is crucial for the Committee to consider the speed and scale of climate action required in Australia, and to be led by what the science tells us is necessary right now to avoid the worst impacts of dangerous climate change.

The effects of climate change are already hitting Australians hard, and playing out across every corner of the country. Climate pollution, caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas, is fuelling unnatural disasters, including increasingly severe bushfires, floods, heatwaves and destructive storms. As a result, the overwhelming majority of Australians (84%) report having been directly affected by at least one
climate-fuelled disaster since 2019. Globally, limiting global average temperature rise well below 2°C is considered essential to avoid far more severe and irreversible changes to our climate. As one of the top 20 polluters globally and a very significant exporter of fossil fuels, Australia has a critical role to play.

What we do now matters, and the required action is clear: Australia must cut climate pollution and decarbonise our economy as quickly as possible to secure a safer future and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. To delay action is to fail in our project to arrest the climate crisis and protect more Australians. We must continue to cut climate pollution in areas where we already have the technology
and know-how, and there is no better example of this than the electricity sector.

Nuclear energy will take too long to contribute to the urgent project of slashing climate pollution in Australia in the coming decade. Australia’s ageing coal power stations are all on track to shut down well before nuclear energy could come online. It is clear that building nuclear reactors will take too long to meaningfully contribute to either our energy supply needs or necessary reductions to climate pollution. Nuclear is also the most expensive form of energy and, under the federal Coalition’s current proposal, would provide less than one-sixth of the electricity Australia needs by 2050. It is important to invest in our energy supply, but nuclear represents paying too much for too little, to come online too late.

Given that nuclear could not be ready in time to meet Australia’s energy needs this decade or the next, the Climate Council is concerned that the pursuit of nuclear energy would only increase reliance on polluting coal and gas, undermine policy and investment certainty in clean energy technologies, and ultimately increase climate pollution, unnecessarily exposing more Australians to climate harms.
Nuclear reactors would also unnecessarily expose Australians to risks of nuclear accidents, nuclear waste and water security issues, which are likely to be even harder to manage in world of more frequent and ferocious extreme weather events.

For these reasons, the Climate Council strongly recommends that Australia maintain its focus on building clean, safe, reliable and affordable renewable electricity, backed by storage and, in the immediate term, gas peaking.

We have previously outlined our recommendations to make the most of Australia’s renewable energy opportunity in our submission to the Energy and Electricity Sector Plan consultations, and in our Seize the Decade report, which maps a clear evidence-based pathway to slash Australia’s climate pollution by 75% this decade and get us on the right track for net zero by 2035. This submission focuses on the key reasons nuclear is not a viable solution to cut climate pollution or meet Australia’s energy supply needs.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1

Australia must invest in energy options that will cut climate pollution as quickly as possible to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and unnatural disasters. Clean, safe, reliable and affordable renewable technologies are the most viable solution to achieve this, and are readily available now.
At the same time all our coal fire generators are slated to close by 2038. Nuclear reactors will take too long to build to meaningfully contribute to urgently slashing climate pollution or ensure our urgent energy security needs, and the Australian Government should reject nuclear energy on this basis.

Recommendation 2

Any consideration of nuclear energy for Australia must take into account the significant climate pollution, cost and reliability impacts of delaying the closure of coal-fired power plants and increasing gas generation.

Recommendation 3

Any consideration of nuclear energy for Australia should take into account the impact of escalating climate risks, including more severe and frequent storms, bushfires and droughts, on proposed nuclear reactor and waste sites.

Recommendation 4

Australia should invest public resources in efforts to slash climate pollution now, rather than in high risk, high cost energy options like nuclear. By maintaining its focus on unlocking Australia’s huge renewables advantage, the Australian Government can maintain energy policy certainty for investors and
trading partners.

The post Submission to: Inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia appeared first on Climate Council.

Transport connects us to everything: our communities, workplaces, friends and family, education, healthcare and all the essential services we need. Our ability to get around – safely and without barriers – is fundamental to our quality of life, wellbeing and participation in society. Delivering a transport system that is clean, convenient and reliable is key to having vibrant, thriving communities across Australia.

Building a cleaner transport system is also essential for slashing climate pollution further and faster this decade. Last year, 2023, was the Earth’s hottest year on record by a large margin (NOAA, 2024). July 2023 was the first month in which the global average temperature rise spiked 1.5°C above pre industrial levels (WMO, 2024). We are all living in this age of climate consequences with extreme heat waves in southern Europe, North America and China, devastating wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, and deadly floods in India, Brazil and Libya. Scientists were shocked by record-breaking sea surface temperatures globally in 2023 and record low sea ice extent around Antarctica.

The thread of extreme weather and unnatural disasters is a stark reality for Australians. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service announced an early start to the fire danger season in August 2023 (ABC, 2023a) and by November 2023, more than 610,000 square kilometres had burnt across north Australia – an area larger than Spain (The Guardian, 2023a). Bushfires were also raging on the east coast in November 2023 – a month before the official start of summer – with lives threatened and more than 50 properties lost in Queensland (ABC, 2023b). By December 2023 and January 2024, the same state was being hammered with cyclonic conditions, severe flooding and storm events, plus heatwaves (New York Times, 2023). These storms and flash flooding tragically took ten lives over Christmas (The Guardian, 2023b). And in early 2024 our Australian icon, the Great Barrier Reef, has suffered through an intense bleaching event that is set to be part of the most extreme planet-wide bleaching event in history (The Guardian, 2024). Australians are already losing homes and livelihoods to fires and floods, being forced to pay higher prices for food insurance, staying indoors to avoid extreme heat, and witnessing our landscapes and wildlife being devastated by extreme weather (Climate Council, 2023a).

These are the consequences of climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, that Australians are already experiencing at 1.2°C of warming (Climate Council, 2023a). Worse is on the way if we do not slash climate pollution further and faster now. There is no safe level of global warming, and every fraction of a degree matters. Striving to limit global average temperature rise as close as possible to 1.5°C is essential to avoid far more severe and irreversible changes to our climate. Therefore, it is essential that Australia puts in place real plans for rapidly driving down emissions this decade, and beyond.

While this stark reality is unfolding, climate pollution from Australia’s transport industry is rising with the sector on track to be the country’s biggest polluter by 2030. The vehicles on our roads are responsible for around 83% of the carbon emissions coming from transport (DITRDCA, 2024). Trucks, cars, vans and utes are pumping out millions of tonnes of toxic pollutants that are harming our health, costing Australians at the petrol pump and fuelling the climate crisis.

Fortunately, the clean alternatives for many types of transport are affordable and available at scale right now (Climate Council, 2024b). Together with our energy system, transport is one of Australia’s best opportunities to make a significant impact on climate pollution in the near term.

We have the solutions available, scalable and ready now that can halve climate pollution from our transport system by the end of this decade (Climate Council, 2024b). This will build on the progress Australia is already making. Today, around 40% of the power in our main national grid comes from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar. More than 3.5 million Australian households are already enjoying lower power bills, having taken power into their own hands and put solar panels on their roof. More electric vehicles are being sold every day to keen buyers, and investors are putting their money where it matters to clean up our existing industries and create new ones.

There is tremendous potential to decarbonise how Australians get around to deliver a real-zero transport system. This means rolling out and scaling up existing transport solutions that will permanently and deeply cut Australia’s carbon emissions. We do not need to look to carbon offsets or future, unproven technologies to do the work on cutting transport emissions. We can cut climate pollution from our transport system in half by the end of the decade, using simple solutions we know work – particularly mode shift to shared and active transport (Climate Council, 2024b). It is important that our transport system lives up to this potential to ensure all industries are contributing the maximum possible to slashing Australia’s emissions.

We can build on existing momentum to accelerate Australia’s move to renewable energy and clean industries in the next few years by doing more of what we already know works. We can seize the opportunities this decade to make a real difference to Aussies’ lives, while continuing to remove the pollution that fuels dangerous climate change from our transport system.

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You have rightly acknowledged the dangers facing Australia in a rapidly warming world, recognised that we must strive to limit global warming to 1.5°C, recognised that Australia can play an important role in helping accelerate global action and that our commitments must reflect our obligations under the Paris Agreement and our status as an advanced economy. You also state that the CCA “aims to push the boundaries of what is currently deemed possible” and argue that the right goal can “catalyse transformative action”, creating a “virtuous cycle of learning and improvement”. Further, you correctly observe that an overly conservative target may “fail to adequately address the systemic changes required for success”. These are all points with which we strongly concur, and which are well supported by available evidence.

We are therefore dismayed by the CCA’s preliminary advice that Australia set a target for 2035 of only 65-75% below 2005 levels. This falls well short of the principles and considerations that the CCA has laid out in the issues paper, as well as its mandate under the Climate Change Act 2022.

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The development of this sector plan is an important opportunity for designing an electricity and energy system which is fit for purpose to enable a thriving zero emissions economy. The delivery of a much larger, more resilient and reliable clean electricity grid underpins Australia’s transition to a zero carbon future. Without it, we cannot decarbonise our domestic economy to its full potential, or lay the foundations for Australia’s next era of prosperity with clean industries. The EESP will, to a large extent, determine the feasible emissions reduction pathways for every other sector currently being considered. The design of the new energy system must cater for the needs of all Australian industries, sectors and communities. It is essential we get this right, by planning for a clean energy system which can anticipate and unlock decarbonisation options right across Australia’s economy.

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