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Like every other advocacy group across the country, the Climate Capital Forum has compiled our list of what we believe is needed next to keep Australia’s policy ambition for energy and cleantech advancing.
There were significant gains in the last parliament to support Australia’s reframing of industry policy — doing more than “dig and ship” our resources to add value — but there is no time to waste. The global race to grab emerging cleantech opportunities is on and climate change impacts are mounting. We call on all members of the newly formed Australian parliament to step up and speed up action.
We need to move the $15billion in the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) to support our cleantech companies, critical mineral miners and startups now so they can move rapidly into the emerging global market as demand increases.
We repeat our call for the government to urgently appoint a coordinator with authority to establish a fast tracking system to drive projects and manage priorities across all states and territories. large-scale renewable energy projects, transmission lines, regional cleantech and renewable energy hubs, programs to address workforce shortages.
Renewable Energy Industrial Precincts should be prioritised to power the regional clean industry hubs with 100% renewable energy (such as in Gladstone in Queensland and the Hunter Valley in NSW) to cluster green manufacturing, minerals processing and recycling for cost efficiency and to help establish new markets.
Our miners are world class: we need to use our ESG critical minerals mining ability to scale battery manufacturing and recycling onshore to establish a premium-priced, circular economy option that could help well-paid, future-proofed jobs here.
We need people with skills and experience so we have to focus on growing the Australian workforce; we have cleantech innovation and decarbonising solutions ready to go but don’t have the workforce to deliver the transition, nor the people to train them. The state and federal governments need to work together to address the skills deficit, the apprentice pay challenges, and support employers to engage with young people so they can see the jobs available.
We need to make R&D a national priority. Local investment in Australia in R&D is an embarrassing 1.66% of GDP, well below the OECD average of 2.7%. The recommendations from the strategic examination of R&D in Australia led by Robyn Denholm will no doubt come up with similar recommendations as other inquiries. If the government wants to be taken seriously on its support for science and innovation it must run with the inquiry’s recommendations or we will be left behind. The uncertainty in the US science system is a ripe opportunity to attract researchers and innovators to work with Australian companies and help bolster what we do and how we do it.
Re-allocate the committed $32.6 million for Carbon Capture and Storage, which to date has delivered no breakthrough emissions solutions, to provide more money for electrification, including delivery of the ALP’s promised $2.3bn Cheaper Home Battery Program for homes and businesses. This will help drive our home-grown market as we develop export opportunities at the same time. Greater battery storage nationally means more energy security, better resilience as climate impacts increase and lower power bills over time.
Urgent updates are needed for the Your Future, Your Super performance test to utilise benchmark indices that appropriately recognise the benefits of investments in cleantech, renewable energy and other climate solutions in line with Paris commitments, particularly in Australia. APRA’s MySuper Heatmap can and should be used to measure superannuation funds’ performance against a Paris-aligned Transition-benchmark rather than standard default, high-emissions indices to encourage the pivot of MySuper default options to track a lower-carbon index, with trustees and members required to ‘opt-in’ if they choose to pursue high carbon-exposed investments, with all the carbon price and stranded asset risks involved.
We need to commit to ensuring Australia wastes no more money and time on the folly of nuclear power that makes no economic, energy or risk sense here.
We should not wait until September to announce our Nationally Determined Contributions for Australia’s climate action plan. And we need to back our commitment to host COP31 to bring the world here and showcase what Australia is doing and can do in all aspects of the cleantech and climate solutions space. This will put pressure on us to move faster, work with our Pacific and regional neighbours and hold us to account on our emissions commitments and the transition of our export market for polluting fossil fuels to clean energy innovation.
The Labor government needs to show us their vision – prioritise telling Australians why and how the Future Made in Australia and other initiatives helps Australia — from energy users, workers and communities to investors, businesses and the global climate.
And finally, with the divisive and damaging politics removed from the discussion, we need a price on carbon! From business leaders and economists to energy companies, not-for-profit experts and former government leaders, everyone agrees that establishing a price on carbon in Australia would be the most effective and rational way to support the move from polluting fossil fuel energy to innovative clean energy alternatives. With the election results we have just seen, now is the time for leadership to establish this much-needed approach.