The Clean Industrial Revolution

Bill Clinton famously said you can put wings on a pig but you don’t make it an eagle. Well, Malcolm Turnbull launched the alternative ETS today in Canberra which proclaims that Australia could achieve 10% unconditional cuts by 2020 at one-third the cost of the governments CPRS.  Wings-pigs-eagle!

Its actually easy to achieve deep carbon cuts even beyond 10% unconditional – through a massive purchase of international carbon permits, whether it be capturing methane from a Phillipines landfill or a windfarm in China.  We could have 100% cuts by 2020 if we want to purchase enough of the permits while continuing our domestic carbon emission increases (completely smoke and mirrors).  In the oppositions ETS, we apparently save billions on household energy costs by completely shielding coal-fired electricity generators and buying permits from offshore.  But taxpayers will still have to pay for these permits (and lets hope the price doesnt sky-rocket in the future).  

Aside from the smoke and mirrors, there is something much more dangerous about the alternative ETS. I was really hoping that Malcolm Turnbull would understand the importance of carbon emissions legislation beyond just reducing emissions itself.  Carbon cuts need to transition our economy form investment and production for AUSTRALIA from high carbon (coal, oil) to position itself as a leader for the production and commercialisation of low carbon products, technologies and services (renewable, EV). If we dont have a meaningful carbon price for the electricity generators and the economy as a whole, there is no incentive for those companies and new companies to invest in clean technology which is the future for growing Australia’s prosperity.  

Although the CPRS isn’t perfect, I was encouraged when I heard Senator Wong say this important point today: “Combining these two elements [cap on carbon and carbon price] means we not only start to close the door on climate change, we also open the door to the investment in low-carbon technology that will drive the clean-growth economy of the future. We can tackle climate change and grow our economy.”