Garnaut: Australia energy rich, but knowledge poor

By Kristy Henderson

“Climate change is a diabolical policy problem” according to Ross Garnaut, who in Melbourne on Tuesday night released the eighth climate change review paper: Transforming the electricity sector.

Speaking about the review in the most carbon intensive state in Australia, Garnaut optimistically touted Victoria’s history of innovation, and the inevitable role that this would have in transforming Victoria’s energy sector.

Garnaut stressed that an international outlook was required to achieve global greenhouse gas reductions, and praised the efforts of proactive world leaders, particularly in China. He was less celebratory about the debates being had about carbon pricing in Australia, stating that climate change was a test to the democratic polity. For Garnaut, climate change presents as a contest between knowledge, generated by a large body of scientific research, and ignorance, fostered by short-sighted, self-interested shock jocks.

Garnaut stated that there would be no future investment in coal power, but that gas infrastructure would be expanded, with Australian gas exports playing an important role in meeting world energy demand and stimulating the Australian economy.

Australian uranium exports are also expected to expand, according to Garnaut. When questioned about the affect that the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan would have on the global uptake of nuclear energy, Garnaut responded by stating that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would be harder to achieve in the absence of increased nuclear power, but that Chinese officials were facing increased public concern over their plans for new nuclear power plants.

In Germany, nuclear energy has suffered a strong public backlash with the Greens and Social Democrats recently winning an election in the southern state of Baden-Wurttemburg, further pressuring German prime minister Angela Merkel to hold firm on her commitment to close seven of Germany’s currently operational nuclear reactors.

Garnaut reflected on Germany’s enthusiastic investment in solar technology, despite the country’s limited solar access. Despite Australia’s comparative advantage here, it has not invested in solar power to a comparable degree.

Garnaut was sanguine about the role of bio-sequestration in reducing Australia’s emissions – which are still the largest per capita in the world – and plugged the use of algae-related technologies for achieving reductions.

Garnaut praised Beyond Zero Emissions’ Zero Carbon Plan and its comprehensive summation of renewable energy technology possibilities, but insisted that the plan would need to be integrated into an economic model in order to prove its viability.

Garnaut blamed apparent failures in the regulatory framework of transmission and distribution networks for recent energy price increases of around 32%. He argued that carbon pricing would have a smaller impact, with electricity prices expected to increase by up to 20%.

Garnaut’s take home message was that Australia could be as rich in energy in the future, as it has been in its past through its exploitation of fossil fuels, if the insights of science are used to inform policy, and the creativity of innovation harnessed.

For further information:
Climate Change Review Paper: Transforming the Electricity Sector
http://www.garnautreview.org.au/update-2011/update-papers/up8-key-points...

Beyond Zero Emissions
www.beyondzeroemissions.org/