- In short: The Coalition says Labor will fail to meet the Paris Agreement emissions reductions target but will damage Australian industry in trying.
- Recent projections indicate Australia is not on track for the 2030 target, but could get close if existing policies are implemented as promised.
- What next? The Coalition is focusing on gas and nuclear power, which the Australian Conservation Foundation describes as a “fantasy which Australia does not need”.
Probably simple, whilst incredibly difficult. We can begin with removing
by-productsandside effectsand every last synonym of the two from our vocabulary.Coal and gas energy comes with green house gases which we conveniently called side effects and ignored. Only those side effects have grown exponentially to haunt us.
Nuclear energy comes with the question of nuclear waste.
No idea about what solar panels and wind turbines come with.
Every energy generation endeavour is an all or none, take it or leave it deal. Unless our culture accepts this, incredibly difficult.
Incredibly difficult because every listed business is required by law to grow at all costs and deliver profits and growths to the shareholders. Who has the backbone to put a strict speed limit on profits and growths? How do we police the speeds of business growths? Or how and where do we start?
More incredibly difficult because of sustained campaigns such as
individual carbon footprintwith backing from some of the deepest pockets.While on the topic of side effects and by products, another huge elephant in the room is the agriculture industry. I think we can leave it for another discussion.