Australia has two major government-funded bodies leading on climate mitigation research: the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). CSIRO’s mandate is broad, and the organisation is tasked with tackling Australia’s biggest future challenges by partnering with industry and universities. It has eight research units (with climate mitigation...
Despite Australia’s status as the biggest exporter of fossil fuels in the world, there are relatively few Australian jobs in fossil fuel extraction. The “mining” sector – which covers coal and mineral ore mining, as well as oil and gas extraction – makes up only 1.9% (~250,000) of Australia’s labour force. But mining (and especially...
In 2013 the now-defunct National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility raised the spectre of climate risks to disadvantaged Australians. Three heavily disadvantaged local government areas in the state of South Australia – Port Adelaide, Port Pirie and Berri – face the brunt of extreme weather events, rising temperatures, decreased rainfall and sea level rise but...
Even before COVID, Australia’s steel and aluminium manufacturing industries were at an interesting crossroads. Aluminium smelters in Australia currently operate at a massive financial loss and require significant government subsidies. Australian steel-making produces a relatively expensive product that often struggles for relevance in a crowded market. And, both have suffered from long-term uncertainty over climate...
Australia is home to eight of the world’s fourteen different terrestrial habitats, with over one million unique species and thousands of distinct regional ecosystems. Around 20% of Australia’s landmass is protected under the National Reserve System (NRS): a framework introduced in 1992 to conserve Australia’s international status as a “region of mega-diversity”. Different regions provide...
At the time of writing, Australia is in a hopeful position. Strong leadership from state governments has squashed the pandemic curve and prevented significant damage to Australia’s medical system. While lifting restrictions on people’s movement is months away, the nature of Australia’s post-pandemic recovery is beginning to be discussed in earnest. Surprisingly, Australia’s conservative government...
Since the Paris Agreement was signed in December 2015 the Australian energy sector has been trending away from fossil fuels. Electricity generation from fossil fuel sources has declined and has been replaced almost exclusively by wind and solar power. Decommissioned coal power stations have not been replaced with new coal or gas: instead, there is...
In 2011 Australia’s federal government, led by Labor PM Julia Gillard, passed the Clean Energy Act. The Act sought to regulate carbon pollution by putting a fixed price on emissions, which would be overseen by a newly-created regulator. Entities that emitted above a certain threshold would need to purchase one “carbon unit” for each tonne...
Australia’s current fire season is one for the history books. As of mid-January official estimates are that 17 million hectares has been burnt. 80% of the world renowned Blue Mountains and 50% of the Gondwana Rainforest world heritage area has been lost (though, in a rare good news story, groves of prehistoric-age Wollemi Pines have...
