The draft 2026 roadmap confirms what plenty of energy experts know (and 4 million Aussie households with solar on the roof have experienced): renewable energy, powered by the sun and wind, is the lowest-cost way to deliver the clean and reliable energy Australia needs now. 

The latest ISP shows we are well on our way to a reliable renewables-powered grid, with more than 40 percent of the electricity in our main national grid already coming from clean wind, hydro and solar. Now, we need to build on this progress so even more Australians can enjoy the benefits.

Let’s take a look in a bit more detail.

First, what’s AEMO?  

AEMO is the organisation that makes sure our electricity and energy systems work smoothly to provide clean, reliable and affordable power for our homes, businesses and industry. Every two years, AEMO publishes an updated roadmap that governments, businesses, investors and others rely on for upgrading Australia’s electricity grid all the way out to 2050. This shows us the best way forward to keep power reliable as we keep cutting climate pollution from coal and gas and our energy needs keep growing. 
AEMO’s roadmap specifically looks at Australia’s main national electricity grid (referred to as the National Electricity Market, or NEM), which is one of the largest power systems in the world. It provides electricity to more than 23 million people – that’s almost 90% of Australia’s population.

What does the roadmap tell us? Here are our top six takeaways.

1. The switch to renewable energy is well underway, and picking up pace

Altogether, clean energy sources like hydro, rooftop solar, and solar and wind farms are already supplying 40 percent of the electricity in the national grid annually. In the right conditions, they provide even more – at one point on 11 October this year, 79% of our electricity came from renewables! 

Aussie households are generating a lot of this clean power, with millions of families simultaneously cutting their power bills and climate pollution by putting solar on the roof. In early 2025, rooftop solar was contributing nearly 15% of the electricity in our national grid – more than large-scale solar, wind or gas.  In South Australia, rooftop solar has met more than 100% of demand at certain times over the past year.

Households, businesses and investors alike are embracing renewable energy because it’s affordable, clean and can be rolled out fast. AEMO says accelerating the build out of clean wind and solar – backed by storage – is the lowest cost energy plan for Australia.

Australia is not alone in the shift to renewables: Investors around the world favour renewable energy and supporting technologies over fossil fuels. Globally in 2024, renewable generation received three times as much investment as coal did. In the first half of 2025 and for the first time, more of the world’s energy was delivered by renewables than by coal. 

2. Coal is making a quick exit, so we need to build new capacity ASAP 

Australia’s coal-fired electricity generators are retiring. Those that are left are ageing, unreliable and expensive to maintain and run around-the-clock. They are frequently taken offline to deal with breakdowns and maintenance outages, which puts pressure on the rest of our power grid. 

AEMO is preparing for two-thirds of Australia’s coal-fired generators to close by 2035 so we’re in a race against the clock to get replacement power online before this happens. The roadmap confirms that a combination of rooftop solar and community batteries, together with large-scale wind, solar and storage, is our best and most affordable option to keep powering Australia past the end of coal. 

As we phase out climate pollution in more places like transport and industry, the roadmap confirms we’ll also need more electricity in the future. Under the scenario that AEMO considers most likely, Australia’s electricity demand will double by 2050, as we use more electric vehicles, switch out gas in homes and businesses for electric alternatives, and as our green exports industries expand. 

While we’re making great progress, there is still a lot more to do – which is why AEMO says we need to step on the accelerator. 

Learn about how our ageing coal generators are ramping up blackout risks and power prices.

3. Clean energy backed by storage and firming is the lowest-cost way to power our homes and businesses

AEMO modelled thousands of different scenarios, and consulted with more than 1,400 organisations and experts to determine the lowest-cost way to supply reliable, affordable and clean electricity to Australians while cutting climate pollution. The result? Renewables, backed by storage. This is because solar and wind projects are quick to build, cheap to run, and most importantly, the sun and wind are freely available forever! This not only keeps electricity affordable, it protects Australians against international price shocks caused by volatility in the coal, oil and gas markets. 

Even with the supporting technologies needed for renewables – like transmission and storage – they are the lowest-cost option. In fact, building more transmission can deliver more than $20 billion in benefits for Australians.

4. More Aussies will directly benefit from rooftop solar

The roadmap shows that more and more of our electricity needs will be met by everyday Australians taking their power bills into their own hands with rooftop solar, as well as household or community batteries.

Already, 40% of households in Australia’s main grid have rooftop solar, and this is expected to grow to nearly 50% over the next decade. More and more Aussies will also pair their rooftop solar with household batteries as they become cheaper. AEMO expects the amount of electricity that everyday Australians make and use to increase from around ten percent today to more than  a third of Australia’s energy needs by 2050, even as electricity consumption doubles.

Read more about the benefits of rooftop solar in our report Seize the Sun: How to supercharge Australia’s rooftop solar

5. Batteries and pumped hydro will keep our grid reliable, with gas playing a limited role

Different types of renewable energy, like wind and solar, complement each other to provide power around the clock. Our energy system will also store energy up at times when it’s abundant through large- and small-scale batteries and pumped hydro, to make it available later on when we need it. In other words, just as it doesn’t rain all the time but we can access water whenever we want, AEMO’s roadmap confirms that a mix of solar, wind, hydro and storage can power our homes, industry and businesses 24/7.    

Gas is a polluting fossil fuel which can be just as bad for the climate as coal.  As we shift to renewables, expensive gas will only be used to generate electricity at the rare times that other sources aren’t available. Gas is often the most expensive source of energy in the market today, with high prices for this fossil fuel globally playing a big part in driving up household power bills over the past few years.

Find out more about how batteries are supporting our renewable grid in Battery Boom: Supercharging Australia’s Renewable Rollout

6. We need to do more to unlock the benefits of renewables for Australians

While momentum is building, challenges remain in delivering essential infrastructure at the pace required. To meet our climate and energy targets and maximise the benefits for Australians, we need to address the barriers to the renewable energy rollout, including:

• Ensuring the supply chain for critical energy assets and workforces is secured.
• Maintaining investment certainty with targets and policies that support energy infrastructure and investment. 
• Ensuring our power system is ready for 100% renewables with technologies to ensure a smooth transition and deliver a secure and reliable energy system. 
• Coordinating household solar and storage, so that power is available when it’s needed most, cutting costs for all Australians.
• Building social licence through community engagement, benefit sharing and clear roles.
• Streamlining and enhancing planning and environmental approval processes for infrastructure.

So, what’s the bottom line?

The experts at AEMO say renewable energy from the sun and wind, backed by storage, is the best way to power Australia in the coming decades. 

Not only is it our lowest-cost option, it’s also the most reliable and our best bet for getting replacement power online before more coal generators close down. The roadmap underscores that we’re well on the way to building the clean energy system we need. 

Australia should stick to the path we’re already on, and accelerate our progress, to deliver a reliable and affordable energy system that can cleanly power Australia for generations to come

The post An Aussie Roadmap: building a clean, reliable and low-cost electricity grid appeared first on Climate Council.

A few superstar suburbs are leading the charge when it comes to rooftop solar capacity, and that’s worth celebrating. So let’s give a shout out to our top ten solar suburbs!

The Solar Suburb Leaderboard

#10

Queensland’s Glenwood now has another claim to fame besides the annual ‘Swap Car and Bike show’. Over the past year, residents collectively installed 11.71 MW of rooftop solar capacity, enough electricity to power 3500 homes.

#9

The Burragorang Lookout isn’t the only good view from Camden, New South Wales. Their rooftop solar installations are looking pretty good too, with a combined installed capacity of 14.87 MW in just the last 12 months, which could power 4500 homes.

#8

As if stunning coral reefs, nearby islands and world-famous whale watching wasn’t enough, Hervey Bay in Queensland has harnessed the power of the sun by adding 15.01 MW of rooftop solar between 2023-2024. That’s enough clean energy to power 4500 homes! 

#7

It would be surprising if a town along the Sunshine Coast failed to make it into Australia’s top 10 solar suburbs. Caloundra, Queensland, had an impressive 15.45 MW of rooftop solar capacity installed over the last year, enough to power 4600 households. 

#6

The thriving community of Roxburgh Park, Victoria, has shone over the past year, with 15.79 MW of solar capacity added across the township. That much energy could power 4700 homes!

#5

The unassuming residential suburb of Kellyville, New South Wales, comes in at number five, with 16.08 MW of rooftop solar capacity added throughout the last twelve months.

#4

It’s not just the rum that’s big in Bundaberg, Queensland! The community had 16.34 MW of rooftop solar capacity installed over the past 12 months. 

#3

It might be known as the ‘Sugar Capital of Australia’, but to us it’s the 3rd most impressive suburb for solar installation capacity over the past 12 months! Mackay, Qld added a combined capacity of 16.34 MW. With that much power, they can power more than 6100 homes!  

#2

The small town of Tarneit, just outside of Melbourne in Victoria, had a whopping 22.60 MW rooftop solar installation capacity over the past 12 months, which is seriously impressive. That means they’re producing enough clean energy to power 6800 households! 

#1

And finally, coming in at number one…Box Hill, NSW, doesn’t have a box, or a hill, or even a boxy hill! But its community does have 27.69 MW of rooftop solar capacity installed in the past twelve months. This huge amount of energy could power a whopping 8300 homes! Shine on, Box Hill!

The State Leaderboard

When it comes to the state household solar leaderboard, well…it isn’t called ‘the sunshine state’ for nothing. Queensland leads the nation with the highest number of installations in 2023 at 54,365. 

read the full report here

Queensland is also the state with the highest number of solar installations, period. Almost one million homes in the sunshine state now have rooftop solar, adding more capacity than all of Queensland’s publicly-owned coal-fired power generators combined! Trailing in the sunshine state’s wake is:

• Victoria, with 51,104 in 2023. 
• New South Wales comes in third, with 48,470 installations. 
• Western Australia is next, with a total of 44,899 installations. 
• In fifth place is the Australian Capital Territory, with 22,803 installations. 
• South Australia follows, with 20,849 installations. 
• Second to last, we have Northern Territory with 6,734 installations; and 
• Rounding out the list is Tasmania with 6,070 installations. 

Let’s Seize the Sun

It’s time to seize the sun. Rooftop solar is popular around the country because families and communities understand its huge potential to cut electricity bills, give households more control over their energy needs, and slash climate pollution. A renewed push to share these benefits with more households and businesses can directly respond to the cost-of-living and energy pressures Australians are feeling now.

To seize the sun and realise our household solar potential, our governments have an important role to play. They can do this by implementing the following policies: 

• Aussie Solar Drive – a bold national push to double rooftop solar and storage capacity by the end of the decade. This plan will empower millions of Aussies with cleaner, cheaper electricity, while strengthening our national grid and permanently cutting climate pollution across the economy.
• Australian Energy Corps – Australia’s biggest-ever energy training initiative, equipping young people and experienced energy workers with the skills to power up Australia in secure, well-paid jobs. 

Everyone should have the opportunity to access clean, reliable and affordable electricity. If we get the policies right,two in three Australian homes and many more businesses will experience these benefits this decade. For millions more,  clean and affordable solar power will come from a grid boosted by abundant electricity made cheaply during our sunny days, and captured and stored in communities close to home and available to use when it is needed most. This is the bright future that a supercharged rooftop solar and storage plan for Australia offers. So, let’s get on with it!

The post Discover Australia’s Top 10 Solar Suburbs appeared first on Climate Council.

As we approach the mid-point of this make-or-break decade for our climate, the stakes have never been higher. In 2023 – the world’s hottest year on record – Australians experienced ‘climate whiplash’, hurled from flooding rains to heatwaves to fierce fires, and back again. This is our new reality, underlining the urgent need to slash  climate pollution from coal, oil, and gas further and faster right now.

Momentum is building, and we’re making important progress in some areas. Today, about 40% of the electricity in our main national grid comes from clean wind and solar, while around one in three Aussie households have taken power into their own hands by putting panels on the roof. Now, we need to accelerate this momentum to keep cutting climate pollution across every part of our economy. 

The Climate Council has mapped out a pathway to slash Australia’s climate pollution by 75% this decade and get us on the right track for net zero by 2035. We can do this by harnessing the power of proven and available technologies to electrify the nation and empower communities. 

At the heart of our plan is a bigger, cleaner grid – so we can overwhelmingly power ourselves without pollution and build an industrial base that’s fit for the 21st century. We can use a mix of existing clean technologies to build a reliable, diverse and resilient energy system that’s  94% renewable by 2030, and enable two in three families to drive down their costs of living by installing solar on their rooftops. This clean energy will lay the foundation for our next era of prosperity with thriving, globally competitive businesses in clean industry, manufacturing and more. The Federal Government’s recent $1 billion commitment towards manufacturing solar technology here at home aligns with this vision, reducing climate pollution and creating clean jobs across regional Australia.

So many of the solutions we need are already here. From supercharging renewable energy to electrifying transport, and from cleaner ways of making things to better building efficiency, technologies and techniques are proven, available, underway and ready to be scaled up. Our work underscores the importance of governments, industry and communities working together to deliver these changes because this is a plan everyone will have a part in. Most importantly, it shows millions more Australians will enjoy the benefits of a cleaner, safer future when we do this.

There is no safe level of climate pollution and everything we do now to slash it matters. The decisions we make today will shape our shared future and the lives of every young Australian. We now have a clear plan to embrace Australia’s unique opportunities in renewable energy and clean industries during this critical window for action. A plan to cut climate pollution at the speed and scale the science demands, while sharing the benefits more widely than ever before. 

This is our moment to act decisively, to set Australia up for success with a stable climate and a thriving clean economy. Let’s seize this decade so that when our kids look back on it, the stories they tell are about how we turned the tide on climate change and delivered them a safer, more prosperous future.

Watch the Climate Council’s latest video on the plan to cut climate pollution:

The post Seizing the Decade: Australia’s path to a safer, cleaner and more prosperous future appeared first on Climate Council.

So what’s the plan? Drive our electric car from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast and back, taking in the epic Victorian Alpine Country and stunning NSW-Queensland coastline and hinterland. That’s just a casual 4,300km round trip.

I love our electric vehicle (EV) –  it has close to a 500 kilometre range – yet it’s fair to say I was concerned about the chance of not finding a charging station at points throughout our journey, given the peak summer period traffic, extra luggage weight and air con use. But my travel companion and co-pilot (my wife Michelle) and I were up for the challenge (although she did veto the purchase of reindeer antlers for the car)

So, let’s unpack our journey! 

Planning our trip

There are a few apps available to help with trip planning, such as PlugShare, ChargeFox, Evie and the one we opted for, ABRP (A Better Route Planner). Once you’ve entered your car’s details the app can factor in everything from weight to how much charge you’re starting with and use this information to generate options for charging stops along your specified route. Using an app like these took the guesswork out of it, and meant we were confident that we’d have enough charge for the different stages of our trip. 

And we’re off!

Making sure we were fully charged, we hopped in the car, buckled up, and set course for the sunshine state. But first, we had to select some tunes to send us on our merry way. First, we chose ‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac, which was the theme song for the BBC’s F1 show when I was a kid growing up in Scotland. Mind you, we didn’t plan on breaking any speed records but it did remind us that you can add your cruising speed on the trip planning app as another factor in the charging equation. 

While we’re on music, did you know that 80s pop band ‘A-ha’ was instrumental (‘scuse the pun) in getting Norway to embrace EVs? The power of music knows no bounds!

Our first stop was Glenrowan, where we plugged in to recharge the car and I grabbed a coffee. For most of the trip, we tended to charge the car from 20-30 percent to 80 percent battery level in around 30 to 40 mins. 

Something I hadn’t expected was that charging your EV is such a social experience. The process of charging your car over thirty minutes or so provides a chance to interact with fellow EV drivers, discuss travel plans and share experiences of charging your cars, and swap tips about the different providers and apps to use. It’s a fun collective learning experience. 

Over the course of our summer road trip, at various charging stations along the highway, we met all sorts of people. There was a young family travelling from Queensland to Tassie in their EV, a student and his girlfriend taking his mum’s EV on a road trip from NSW to Victoria, young students from Sydney checking out the Gold Coast in an EV hire car, and a retired couple touring NSW. 

Only twice over the course of 4,300 km did we have to wait for a charger to be free to use – not bad considering it was peak holiday season. On one of those rare occasions, I got chatting to a fellow named Shane, whose car was charging in the station we needed. When we realised we had some overlapping charging time, Shane offered to plug our car in for us while we went for dinner and text us to let us know when to hit charge on the app. With a charged up car and appetites satisfied, we hit the road again. Thank you very much, Shane! 

Charging your EV doesn’t need to be a chore. You can chat to fellow travellers, take a power nap, explore the surrounds, grab some food or read a book. While charging at Coffs Harbour, we swam laps at the nearby pool and had a coffee before hitting the road again. In Glenrowan, we checked out the Ned Kelly museum. On one of our stopovers in NSW, we had dinner at an incredible pub which was powered by solar PV.

And it wasn’t all fast charging either. A small town near ACT (where we stayed overnight) kindly provided free ‘trickle charging’ using a Type 2 Portable EV Charger with 10 Amp plug. We also did this at the home of our friends in the Hunter region in NSW. At another friend’s place in Fingal Head, northern NSW, we used their home Type 2 EV charger.

In total, our 4,300km summer road trip from Melbourne to Queensland’s sunshine coast and back again cost us around $300 in charging fees. If we had done this trip in a petrol car, it could have cost us between $560-$920. 

In fact, the Climate Council’s latest analysis shows that drivers taking their families on holiday by charging a battery electric vehicle pay only a quarter (24%) of the cost of filling up an average petrol car in New South Wales, a fifth (21%) in Victoria, almost a fifth in Queensland (19-20%) and the Australian Capital Territory (17%).

The big takeaway after my summer roadtrip? EVs are no longer the cars of the future; they are the cars of today. 

Australia is getting its wheels in motion, but it needs to move into the fast lane and help Aussies access cleaner cars that are cheaper to run . Right now, Australia pales in comparison to EV uptake and infrastructure abroad because we’re one of the only wealthy countries without mandated fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles. We need these regulations, alongside investments in charging infrastructure, to support the uptake of low and zero emissions vehicles  in Australia.

It’s high time for Australia to get on the path to cleaner transport. EVs, alongside a mix of walking, bike riding, and public transport, will play an important role in cutting transport emissions this decade. The great news is that transforming how we get around is not only great for the environment, but for our wallets, our lungs and our communities.  

In the meantime, I’m back home in Melbourne where it’s time to give the car a holiday and jump back on the tram to work or get on my bike to exercise the ghost of Christmas past puddings. Until next year!

Details on the trip and charging costs were supplied by the case study. This was compared to the average Australian passenger vehicle defined by ABS (journey cost of $923 with 11.1L/100km fuel consumption) and a Toyota Camry (journey cost of $565 with 6.8L/100km fuel consumption). The average fuel costs refer to the week ended 24 December for 2023 when the trip began and are used for the duration of the trip. Where a journey crosses into another state, the fuel costs of the origin state are used throughout. EV charging costs can differ substantially depending on the type of charging used, while home charging with solar is the cheapest (other than free public charging), grid charging sits in the middle, and public charging via standard AC and fast DC charging can be more expensive. 

The post Road tripping in our electric vehicle appeared first on Climate Council.

Read the original article. Written by Senior Researcher Wesley Morgan

In 2024, global climate trends are cause for both deep alarm and cautious optimism. Last year was the hottest on record by a huge margin and this year will likely be hotter still. The annual global average temperature may, for the first time, exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – a threshold crucial for stabilising the Earth’s climate.

Without immediate action, we are at grave risk of crossing irreversible tipping points in the Earth’s climate system. Yet there are reasons for hope.

Global greenhouse gas emissions may peak this year and start falling. This would be an historic turning point, heralding the end of the fossil fuel era as coal, oil and gas are increasingly displaced by clean energy technologies.

But we must do more than take our foot off the warming accelerator – we must slam on the brakes. To avoid the worst of the climate crisis, global emissions must roughly halve by 2030. The task is monumental but possible, and could not be more urgent. It’s not game over – it’s game on.

Our planet in peril

Last year, Earth was the hottest it’s been since records began. The onset of El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean helped drive global temperatures to new heights. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found 2023 was 1.48°C warmer than the pre-industrial average.

Warmer global temperatures in 2023 brought extreme events and disasters worldwide. They included deadly heatwaves in the northern hemisphere summer, devastating wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, and record-breaking rains in many places including Korea, South Africa and China.

Last year was also the warmest on record for the world’s oceans. More than 90% of heat from global warming is stored in the world’s oceans. Ocean temperatures are a clear indicator of our warming planet, revealing a year-on-year increase and an acceleration in the rate of warming.

The warming oceans meant for parts of 2023, the extent of sea ice in the Earth’s polar regions was the lowest on record. During the southern hemisphere winter, sea ice in Antarctica was more than one million square kilometres below the previous record low – an area of ice more than 15 times the size of Tasmania.

This year may be hotter still. There is a reasonable chance 2024 will end with an average global temperature more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Governments have agreed, through the Paris Agreement, to work together to limit global warming to 1.5°C, because warming beyond this threshold poses enormous dangers for humanity.

The agreement refers to long-term trends in temperature, not a single year. So breaching 1.5°C in 2024 would not mean the world has failed to meet the Paris target. However, on long-term trends we are on track to cross the 1.5°C limit in the early 2030s.

As the planet warms, we are now at grave risk of crossing irreversible “tipping points” in Earth’s climate system – including the loss of polar ice sheets and associated sea-level rise, and the collapse of major ocean currents. These tipping points represent thresholds which, when crossed, will trigger abrupt and self-perpetuating changes to the world’s climate and oceans. They are threats of a magnitude never before faced by humanity – one-way doors we do not want to go through.

The age of fossil fuels will end

In 2024 there are also many reasons for hope.

At the COP28 United Nations climate talks in December 2023, governments from nearly 200 countries agreed to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels in this crucial decade. The burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of the climate crisis.

We have the technology needed to replace fossil fuels across our economy: in electricity generation, transport, heating, cooking and industrial processes. In fact, surging market demand for clean energy technologies – wind, solar, batteries and electric cars – is now displacing polluting technologies, such as coal-fired power and combustion engine vehicles, on a global scale.

The world added 510 billion watts of renewable energy capacity in 2023, 50% more than in 2022 and equivalent to the entire power capacity of Germany, France and Spain combined. The next five years are expected to see even faster growth in renewables.

Sales of electric vehicles are also booming – growing by 31% in 2023 and representing around 18% of all new vehicles sold worldwide. In Australia, sales of electric vehicles doubled last year and are expected to continue to grow strongly.

Toward a peak in global emissions

The accelerating shift toward clean energy technologies means global greenhouse gas emissions may fall in 2024. Recent analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA), based on the stated policies of governments, suggests emissions may in fact have peaked last year. The finding is supported by analysis from Climate Analytics, which found a 70% chance of emissions falling from 2024 if current growth in clean technologies continues.

A growing number of major economies have passed their emissions peaks, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan.

China is currently the world’s biggest emitter, contributing 31% of the global total last year. But explosive growth in clean energy investments mean China’s emissions are set not only to fall in 2024, but to go into structural decline.

What’s more, China is currently undergoing a boom in clean energy manufacturing and a historic expansion of renewables – especially solar. Similarly explosive growth is expected for batteries and electric vehicles.

A peak in global emissions is cause for optimism – but it won’t be nearly enough. Greenhouse gas emissions will still accumulate in the atmosphere and drive catastrophic warming, until we bring them as close to zero as possible.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns global emissions must roughly halve by 2030 to keep the 1.5°C goal within reach. The task is monumental, but possible.

Next steps for Australia

Australia is making great strides in rolling out renewable energy. But state and federal governments are undermining this progress by approving new fossil fuel projects.

Every new coal, oil or gas development endangers us all. Australia must urgently reform its national environmental law – the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act – to end new fossil fuel developments.

Similarly, Australia’s gains in renewable energy have been offset by rising emissions in other sectors, notably transport. It’s time to implement long-promised fuel efficiency standards and get these emissions down.

Beyond these immediate next practical steps, Australia has much work ahead to shift from fossil fuel exports to clean alternatives.

The opportunity for Australia to play a major positive role in the world’s decarbonisation journey is undeniable, but that window of opportunity is narrowing fast.

The post ‘It’s not game over – it’s game on’: why 2024 is an inflection point for the climate crisis appeared first on Climate Council.

Read the original article. Written by Senior Researcher Wesley Morgan

The federal government has announced an extra A$150 million for climate finance – including $100 million for the Pacific to help protect its people, housing and infrastructure from the escalating impacts of global warming.

It comes as Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen lands in Dubai for international negotiations at the 28th United Nations climate summit. At the end of the hottest year on record, these talks focus on accelerating climate action in line with the Paris Agreement.

While new funding is undoubtedly important and can go a long way to supporting community-led resilience-building efforts in the region, Australia will be under growing pressure to do more.

A growing number of countries, including the European Union and Pacific island nations, want to see global agreement at COP28 for a managed phase-out of fossil fuels.

Many observers are sceptical that COP28 can deliver consensus on shifting away from coal, oil and gas, because host nation the United Arab Emirates is a major oil exporter. This is a problem Australia also faces – having volunteered to host UN climate talks in 2026, in partnership with Pacific island countries. Today, Australia exports almost three times as much fossil fuels as the UAE. Dozens of new coal and gas projects are lining up for approval.

Today’s announcement must not be a substitute for addressing the root causes of the climate crisis. Australia must stop approving new coal, oil and gas projects. And we must back agreement at COP28 for the phase-out of fossil fuels.

What’s in today’s announcement?

Australia will kickstart the Pacific’s first resilience financing facility with $100 million, and rejoin the Green Climate Fund with a $50 million contribution. As the government says in today’s joint statement:

Climate change is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of climate vulnerable countries and regions, including the peoples of the Pacific.

Sea-level rise, stronger cyclones, marine heatwaves and increasingly acidic oceans pose existential threats to many Pacific islands. Low-lying atoll nations such as Kiribati and Tuvalu are especially vulnerable.

Australia certainly has a responsibility to help Pacific communities adapt. Supporting the Pacific-led, owned and managed Pacific Resilience Facility is an important step.

The facility was proposed by island leaders as a regional fund that would help island communities build resilience to climate impacts, and would be driven by Pacific priorities.

It was established partly in response to concerns that other large multilateral funds are difficult for Pacific island countries to access, and are not geared to support community-scale projects. These locally driven solutions and community projects deserve our support.

The Australian government says it will support locally led, small-scale projects:

This includes grants for climate adaptation, disaster preparedness, nature-based solutions and projects which respond to loss and damage.

Note the words “loss and damage” – the sole mention of those words in today’s announcement. Bowen has so far been hesitant to make any commitment to the new global Loss and Damage Fund, to be administered by the World Bank.

Rejoining the Green Climate Fund

The world’s largest global climate fund, the Green Climate Fund, was set up in 2015 as part of the Paris Agreement. It has approved projects across 128 countries.

Australian diplomat Howard Bamsey was previously Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund and Australia was able to direct the multilateral fund to support initiatives in our region.

But the Morrison government withdrew Australia from the fund in 2018. We should never have left. It was a rash decision, announced by the then Prime Minister Scott Morrison live on air while talking to radio host Alan Jones.

Rejoining the Green Climate Fund makes good sense for Australian diplomacy and relations with countries in our region. By rejoining the fund, Australia can effectively advocate for funding to meet Pacific needs.

Australia should contribute to the new Loss and Damage Fund

Providing finance to help Pacific communities deal with growing climate impacts is a positive step, but Australia also needs to contribute to the newly established fund to address loss and damage that is now unavoidable.

The establishment of the global Loss and Damage Fund at the beginning of COP28 last week was a major breakthrough, and a real win for Pacific island countries.

Vanuatu first proposed a global fund in the early 1990s. The idea was polluters would pay for the damage they were causing.

This is different to climate finance for adaptation. It is meant to deal with things you really can’t adapt to, such as loss of lives after a major cyclone, or damage to crucial infrastructure after coastal inundation.

Finalising such a fund means wealthy nations and major emitters must now allocate funds to address these forms of loss and damage in the Pacific.

With other nations – including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, the UAE and Germany – already making announcements to contribute to this new Loss and Damage Fund, Australia must also do its part.

Australia should be supporting our Pacific neighbours by actively contributing to this global fund and recognising our responsibilities as a major fossil fuel producer

Committing to fossil fuel phase out key to winning Pacific support

The only way to actually stop harming communities in the Pacific is to stop adding fuel to the fire. That means stopping the approval of new coal, oil and gas projects and committing to a managed phase-out of fossil fuels.

Australia has put up its hand to host COP31 with Pacific island countries in 2026. To be a successful host of the UN climate talks, Australia will need to actively support the Pacific’s fight for survival. We can’t just keep throwing money at the problem. We need to be part of the solution.

The post Helping the Pacific financially is a great start – but Australia must act on the root cause of the climate crisis appeared first on Climate Council.

Read the original article. Written by Climate Council Senior Researcher Wesley Morgan and University of Western Australia policy fellow James Bowen.

Last week, foreign minister Penny Wong laid out the strategic challenges facing Australia in a major speech.

Wong described great power competition involving China, America and Russia. She warned of the risk of conflict in our region as China expands its sphere of influence. And she defended the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal with the United States and United Kingdom.

But these are traditional challenges: nation against nation. Australia needs a similar declaration of the catastrophic security implications of climate change.

While Wong did mention climate change, it was secondary, set in the context of regional outreach.

As the climate crisis worsens, we must do more. Climate change is a threat. Maybe even the threat. We need to use every tool we have to tackle it – including our diplomats.

Climate change threatens our neighbours – and us

Australia is a big fish in a big, sparsely populated pond. Our neighbours in the Pacific see sea-level rise and ocean acidification as existential threats. For island nations, this is the big one – well above geostrategic competition.

To Wong’s credit, she understands this.

But climate damage isn’t restricted to island nations. Countries across South and Southeast Asia are also on the front line of warming, as this month’s record-breaking heatwaves show.

Just this weekend, people in Bangkok were warned not to go outside due to extreme heat. The apparent temperature – what the temperature feels like when combined with humidity – hit a record 54℃.

In our region, governments typically avoid close alignment with great powers and blocs. Yet there is no doubt rising temperatures are a key threat to all countries. Australia might have a tougher time remaining a credible partner to the region without a greater climate focus here too.

Back up words with serious action

Under Labor, our political and financial climate commitments have certainly increased.

Despite this, our domestic emissions trajectory is still not compatible with keeping global warming to 1.5℃ this century.

And, as of 2022, Australia was paying just a tenth of its fair contribution to the climate fund set up at the 2009 UN conference in Copenhagen.

Contrast this to the vast sum of money we have committed to spending on traditional security threats, especially the nuclear submarine deal which could cost up to A$368 billion.

Australians want to see more foreign policy ambition on climate front. A United States Studies Centre poll last year found 75% of us want climate action at the heart of our alliance with America. By contrast, only 52% of survey respondents felt the nuclear subs deal was a good idea.

What should Australia do?

It’s hard to imagine Australia – or any other country – financing climate action at a level on par with traditional security threats.

But there are actions we could take to help close the gap. We could rejoin and boost funding to the UN-aligned Green Climate Fund, which the previous Australian government left in 2018.

We should also retool our export credit and development finance to invest in climate-friendly assets and stop them funding more fossil fuel extraction.

At the same time, Australia could signal our serious climate commitments by continuing to strengthen domestic policies to ensure the reformed safeguard mechanism actually leads to genuine emission cuts. This would mean closing glaring loopholes, such as allowing major emitters to keep pumping out carbon pollution by purchasing carbon offsets.

As the global energy transition gathers pace, the federal government should do more to support clean energy exports. Australia is well placed to provide critical minerals and the green metals, fertiliser and transport fuels that the rest of the world needs. But we must act fast to secure lucrative opportunities –and to tell the world we are open for green business.

The way we communicate progress to the world is critical. For years, we have been seen as laggards and hold-outs, one of the few developed nations resisting the change which must come. It’s time for us to lead.

The post We want more climate ambition in our foreign policy – here’s how we can do it appeared first on Climate Council.

Read the original article. Written by Climate Councillor Dr Tim Nelson and Joel Gilmore.

After more than five decades, the last operating units of the Liddell coal-fired power station will close this month. The station’s owner, AGL, is Australia’s largest carbon polluter. Liddell’s closure will reduce the company’s emissions by 17%.

Liddell, in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, is one of Australia’s oldest coal stations. It started operations in the early 1970s – about the same time the Datsun 180B was released, and before the Sydney Opera House officially opened!

In the same way a Datsun 180B was a great car in its day, Liddell was the cheapest and most reliable electricity generation technology in the 1970s and 1980s (at least if you ignore the long-term costs of carbon).

But like all coal-fired power stations in Australia, Liddell’s performance declined as it aged. It became unreliable and inefficient. One unit of the station closed last year, leaving three operating.

Governments must act to make sure our electricity grid doesn’t fall short when coal plants close. But the demise of facilities such as Liddell means Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to become a global energy superpower.

Life after Liddell

AGL announced the decision to close Liddell in 2015. Virtually no one in the energy industry argued against the move, but it triggered endless political debate.

Some politicians are still railing against Liddell’s retirement. Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud this week said the closure should be delayed to prevent supply problems, and suggested Australia should have an urgent conversation about building nuclear energy.

But closing Liddell is unlikely to cause the lights to go off in NSW. For now, the state has enough remaining capacity to ensure reliable supply.

In the eight years since the decision to close Liddell, large-scale renewable capacity in NSW has ramped up, as has new rooftop solar.

Plenty of new “firming” capacity is also being developed – that is, flexible energy capacity to be activated if renewables aren’t producing energy or electricity demand suddenly increases. Projects under construction in NSW include the Kurri Kurri and Tallawarra gas-fired power stations, the Waratah “super battery” and the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project.

When electricity consumption in NSW is at its highest, about 14,000 MW of power is required. Without Liddell, about 13,500 MW of coal, gas and hydro generation is available.

Add in existing wind and solar capacity, plus energy that can be imported from Victoria and Queensland via transmission lines, and total generation capacity in NSW looks to be more than enough.

However, the reliability of some of this remaining capacity – namely, remaining coal-fired power stations – is becoming less certain. That’s why the energy industry is looking past Liddell, to the closure of the Eraring coal plant in 2025, and others to follow

All eyes on Eraring

Modelling by the Australian Energy Market Operator shows the closure of Eraring puts pressure on remaining electricity supply. However, it says the market would still meet the grid “reliabilty standard”, even if no new projects are developed.

Under that standard, expected unserved energy needs (leading to blackouts) should be no more than 0.002% of total energy used in a region. The standard assumes that while the occasional blackout is inconvenient, eliminating them completely is unfeasible because it would require building expensive power stations that are rarely used.

Blackouts could become more common, if extreme weather hits or coal units fail – which happened at Queensland’s Callide C power station in 2021. But blackouts are still far more likely to be the result of a power line problem in your street than a lack of generation capacity.

Over to the Minns government

No electricity supply shortfalls are projected for Australia in the near-term. But to ensure the clean energy transition happens smoothly, we should develop new renewable energy and firming capacity ahead of coal closures.

The earlier-than-expected closure of coal units remains a possibility – as occurred with Victoria’s Hazelwood coal station due to unaffordable repair costs.

We have previously recommended a “waiting room” for capacity that can be brought quickly into the market when required. Batteries and pumped hydro would be developed ahead of coal closures, and brought into the market as soon as coal exits.

The NSW Minns Labor government can also bring forward investment through an existing policy called the NSW Energy Roadmap. This involves asking the Australian Energy Market Operator to enter into long-term contracts to underwrite new renewable energy and firming projects, to help reduce the financial risks proponents face.

One tender round is already under way, but this could be accelerated. Given the global energy crunch, it may be worth commissioning projects now, even if delivery is not required until later. This is a much better way to manage reliability than, for example, the NSW government using taxpayer money to buy Eraring – an option NSW Labor left on the table ahead of last month’s state election.

In the longer term, construction of renewable generation must dramatically scale up to ensure energy reliability and meet emissions reduction targets.

This will be challenging. But we can take heart from news this week that under the federal Albanese government, renewables projects are being approved at twice the rate of previous years.

A new era

There’s more work to be done to make sure the electricity grid can withstand coal plant closures.

Many new transmission lines must be built to carry electricity from renewables generators to the grid. And the ongoing development of renewable energy zones – clusters of large-scale renewable energy projects – will make establishing new projects quicker and simpler.

Importantly, local communities and First Nations people must be engaged and consulted throughout the transition.

But while adjusting to the exit of coal brings challenges, nuclear power in Australia is unlikely to be the answer.

Australia has world-class wind and solar resources – enough to eventually produce clean, cheap energy for ourselves and for export. Technologies such as batteries, hydrogen and hydro will fill the gaps when needed.

Producing energy from emerging nuclear technologies in the form of “small modular reactors”, as proposed by Littleproud, will be still be more than twice the cost of Australian renewable energy firmed by batteries or other storage technologies, even under the most ambitious scenarios. This gives Australia a global competitive advantage.

Liddell’s closure is an historic moment in the Australian energy landscape. Now, with tweaks to existing policies, the new NSW government can increase reliability, lower electricity prices and get on the path to net-zero.

The post Farewell Liddell: what to expect when one of Australia’s oldest coal plants closes appeared first on Climate Council.

Look more closely. The world is slowly but surely shifting away from fossil fuels. When historians look back, they will likely see the 2015 Paris agreement as the key pivot point. It achieved a global consensus on climate action and set the goal for nations to decarbonise by mid-century.

In recent years, the enormous task of switching from fossil fuels to clean energy has been given a boost by tailwinds from the need to get off Russian gas, to the plummeting cost of clean energy.

Focusing on the success of global talks is no longer the only game in town. To see real progress, look to countries like China, Germany and the United States, who are moving faster to invest in clean energy technologies – not just for the world’s sake, but because it’s in their own interests to move first.

From Paris with love: why the Paris agreement is so vital

After decades of torturous negotiations and bitter disappointment at the UN COP climate talks, the hard-won 2015 Paris agreement was a major diplomatic breakthrough. Achieved with rare consensus, it has huge legitimacy. That’s what makes it powerful. It sets the standard for all nations to follow.

So what did it do? It introduced a new global norm: achieving net-zero. Countries agreed to keep the world’s heating “well below 2℃ […] and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5℃”.

To get there, the globe must achieve net zero emissions by around mid-century. All countries need to set national targets to cut emissions and strengthen them every five years. Since 2015, well over 100 countries have pledged to achieve net zero. These countries represent more than 90% of the global economy.

The pledges made in Paris and afterwards are beginning to drive faster change. In the five years to 2020, global clean energy investment grew by 2%. Since 2020, the pace of growth has accelerated significantly to 12% a year. The International Energy Agency (IEA) now expects global fossil fuel use to peak this decade, before the world economy switches irreversibly to clean energy.

At present, the transition is not happening fast enough. But it is happening. And there’s no turning back. Here are six encouraging trends to watch in 2023.

1. G7 economies will form a ‘climate club’

In December, the G7 grouping of the world’s richest democracies agreed to form a “climate club”. Conceived by Nobel Prize-winning economist William Nordhaus, the club is an arrangement where countries develop common standards for climate ambition and share benefits among club members. The club will focus first on decarbonisation of industries such as steelmaking.

2. New carbon tariffs will be introduced in the EU

To avoid the problem of European companies becoming less competitive with companies from nations without a carbon price, EU nations agreed in December to bring in carbon tariffs.

That means imports from countries without an adequate carbon price will be taxed. It also means European companies can’t offshore production to avoid the carbon price.

This is just the tip of the spear, with other rich nations like Canada looking to follow suit. Over time, these tariffs will have a ripple effect, forcing countries reliant on exporting to these markets to move faster toward decarbonisation.

3. The Ukraine war boosted renewables, as nations focus on energy security

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Western nations slapped sanctions on Moscow and cut imports of Russian gas. Fossil fuel prices spiked. Bad news, right? Not so fast. The IEA says the war has actually supercharged clean energy investment by making clean energy a matter of security.

In response to Putin’s invasion, major European economies increased renewable energy targets as they moved to end reliance on Russian gas. With renewables ramping up, the EU now intends to set a stronger 2030 emissions target before the COP28 climate summit later this year.

4. The United States and China are competing to lead the shift to clean energy

Climate action doesn’t have to rely on cooperation. Competition is an excellent driver as well. Last year, the United States passed legislation investing over A$530 billion in clean energy.

The largest climate spend in US history was also intended to compete with China, which dominates global production of solar panels, batteries, wind turbines and electric vehicles.

5. Rich nations are paying developing economies to quit coal

In 2021, a grouping of rich nations offered South Africa $A12 billion to shift away from its reliance on coal power. At the Bali G20 summit last year, rich nations offered Indonesia almost A$30 billion to get off coal, while a similar offer was made to Vietnam in December. This year all eyes will be on India, with hopes a similar package will be offered.

6. Coalitions of the willing

In September, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will host a “no nonsense” climate ambition summit, ahead of the formal COP talks in November. Why? He wants big economies to bring new commitments to cut emissions earlier – as in this decade. There will be “no room for back-sliders, greenwashers, blame-shifters or repackaging of announcements”, he declared.

It’s not the only parallel push. Alongside the formal UN talks, we’re seeing a flowering of groupings dubbed coalitions of the willing. These range from the Powering Past Coal Alliance diplomatic alliance to the Global Methane Pledge to more ambitious proposals like the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, put forward by Vanuatu and Tuvalu last year.

So while the UN climate talks are the bedrock of global cooperation, we’re also seeing a patchwork quilt forming of extra measures. These under the radar efforts will be vital to driving ever-faster climate action.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post 6 reasons 2023 could be a very good year for climate action appeared first on Climate Council.

Here’s a list of our ten recently released favourites from authors doing just that:

The Big Switch: Australia’s Electric Future by Saul Griffith

In The Big Switch, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint – optimistic but feasible – for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households. The same natural advantages – incredible resources on an enormous continent – that helped Australia prosper in the 20th century are the ingredients for becoming the most prosperous, entirely renewable, economy in the world.

The Climate Cure by Tim Flannery 

In his new book, The Climate Cure: Solving the Climate Emergency in the Era of Covid-19, Climate Council’s Chief Councillor – Professor Tim Flannery – explores how 2020 flipped the climate debate on its head and exposed who was left standing in the way of action.

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli, two of the world’s most influential design figures, meet the visionary designers whose innovations and ingenuity give us hope for the future by redesigning and reconstructing our lives, enabling us to thrive. Design Emergency tells the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists, who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. 

Every Woman’s Guide to Saving the Planet by Natalie Isaacs

Every Woman’s Guide to Saving the Planet is 1 Million Women Founder Natalie Isaacs’ inspiring story of how she started a movement of now over 950,000 women and girls, combined with a practical tool kit for reducing your carbon footprint and mobilising your community around the biggest issue of our time – climate change. With loads of tips, tricks, easy-to-understand infographics and an inspiring can-do message, this book is for every woman who wants to make a difference.

Firestorm by Greg Mullins 

Firestorm, told through the eyes of a firefighter – and one of our very own Councillors, not to mention the founder of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action – with more than 50 years of experience, combines thrilling stories of what it’s like to be on the front line of Australia’s first giga-fire with the hard truths of human-caused climate change.

Humanity’s Moment by Joelle Gergis

Climate Councillor Joëlle Gergis shows us that the solutions we need to live sustainably already exist – we just need the social movement and political will to create a better world. This book is a climate scientist’s guide to rekindling hope, and a call to action to restore our relationship with ourselves, each other and our planet.

Hot Mess: What on Earth Can we do About Climate Change by Dr Matt Winning

Dr. Matt Winning is a stand-up comedian and environmental economist with a PhD in climate change policy. Hot Mess aims to both lighten the mood and enlighten readers on climate change. This is a book for people who care about climate change but aren’t doing much about it, helping readers understand what the main causes of climate change are, what changes are needed, and what they can (and cannot) do about it.

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson 

The Ministry for the Future is a climate fiction (“cli-fi”) novel by American science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson published in 2020. Set in the near future, the novel follows a subsidiary body, established under the Paris Agreement, whose mission is to act as an advocate for the world’s future generations of citizens as if their rights are as valid as the present generation’s. 

Together we can by Claire O’Rourke

Together we can by Claire Orourke uses inspiring real-life examples to demonstrate how each of us can use our own unique strengths to tackle climate change. While it can be difficult to avoid being bogged down by extreme weather events and bleak reports, we know the solutions and incredible and inspiring people are lining up to tackle the issue. 

Windfall by Ketan Joshi

This book, by renewable expert Ketan Joshi, explores “a future where communities champion equitable new clean tech projects, where Australia grows past a reliance on toxic fuels, and where the power of people is used to rattle fossil fuel advocates from their complacency.”

Plus a couple great reads for the Kids:

Amy’s Balancing Act by Bjorn Sturmberg

Amy has always done things a certain way, but when her old horse gets ready to retire, Amy must find a fresh approach. In this book, with the help of some new friends, Amy discovers the power of teamwork and how to balance keeping the mail on time with having a lighter impact on the environment.

With a Little Kelp From my Friends by Matthew Bate

From ancient history and mythology to modern uses in food, health and medicine, discover how seriously cool seaweed is, and how it can even help tackle climate change. Complete with a guide to common seaweeds and foraging guidelines, this charmingly illustrated picture book will educate and inspire, and encourage respect for the natural world.

The post Ten new climate reads to inspire you to keep up the fight for a cooler future appeared first on Climate Council.