Climate investment
Melinda Cilento
Chief Executive at CEDA - Committee for Economic Development of Australia
I’m kicking off a monthly LinkedIn discussion on the big issues facing our economy and society. There’s no point easing in gently, so I thought I would start with climate investment.
I’m interested to understand how confident you are that Australia will reach its 2030 climate targets, how you think we’ll get there and what that means for 2050?
These questions were front of mind at the Climate Investor Forum I attended in March (with thanks to Brian Kraft from Anthesis Group for the invitation) and will feature in CEDA’s upcoming discussions on energy and infrastructure.
I’m sure climate investment will also feature in the upcoming federal budget, given much of the heavy lifting towards our 2030 targets will occur within the life of the forward estimates.
The Federal Government’s Future Made in Australia program, with its focus on advanced manufacturing and clean energy projects, reflects a growing sense of urgency across industry and government about the energy transition and the need for coordinated and concerted effort.
There are reasons to be concerned about the pace of change. Clean Energy Council figures show an 80% drop in large-scale renewable energy investment last year, with commitments about one-fifth of what is needed to meet our 82% renewable energy target by 2030.
Opportunity for Australia
On the upside, a new CEDA report highlights the opportunity for Australia to become a clean energy exporter and drive the global energy transition.
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It says while Australia accounts for just over 1% of global emissions, we can potentially replace about 7% of global emissions through clean exports.
Clean energy precincts, bringing together businesses, institutions and organisations working towards a low-or-no emissions future, can help us capture these opportunities. CEDA’s report also reminds us of the critical role that good program design, transparency and evaluation must play if these investments are to deliver for Australia.?
In my many conversations with CEDA members and stakeholders, I’m also hearing a lot about the need for more, and better, stakeholder engagement.?
There are big systemic considerations, not just for government but for all of us.
What are your thoughts on how we approach these issues and the path we are on at the moment?
I’m looking forward to discussing these issues and more at the CEDA - Committee for Economic Development of Australia Climate and Energy Forum?in Brisbane tomorrow, hearing from keynote speakers Rod Sims and Mick de Brenni (thanks to our sponsors Queensland Government , 奥雅纳 , John Holland , Aurecon , 柏克德 and EDL ). ?
Is there anything you want to share ahead of the forum? ?
ESG Strategy | Human Rights | Fulbright Scholar
6 个月Hi Melinda, great question, and such a pleasure having you join for the discussions at CMI. My sense is that Australia's 2030 climate targets (NDC of 43% below 2005 levels) look at least conceviably possible - we know what needs to be done. Possibly mostly due to state and regional governments (councils) taking climate commitments seriously for a long time now, and expediting shuttering of coal-fired powerstations. However, we are in a lot more trouble when looking at how Australia can keep going to net zero by 2050 (our Paris Agreement NDC). Most of the low-hanging emissions reductions will be used up getting to 2030, then the real meaty decarbonisation kicks-in. That's the hard stuff; agriculture, aviation, gas, plastics, etc. Some traditional money makers will need to stop making that kind of money, and that's not how we built this whole capitalist engine. In short, I am optimistic about 2030, but pretty shakey on 2035 and beyond.
Chief Growth Officer | Radical problem solver | Responsible innovation, ethics in tech, Ai for Good | Partnerships & Co-Lab innovation models | ESG Non-Executive, Startup Boards & disruption #corpgov
6 个月It’s going to be damn hard to achieve the targets unless Australia can better achieve SDG17 Partnerships! Let’s think PPP(PFI) where some of these deals / assets were/are extraordinary, like even then Jeff’s Shed achieved a 6 star green rating ahead of its time. How might AUS do Government, multi-sector & startups partnerships deals? I know. I’d love an hour with you & your industry lead, Melinda.
Economist | Monash University Future Global Leader 2024 | MSc in Applied Economics and Econometrics (First Class Honors) | Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA)
6 个月Nice one Melinda. In its recent Electricity and Energy Sector Plan discussion paper, DCCEEW identified 'mobilising investment' as the first of its 5 considerations for decarbonising the sector, reflecting the critical enabling role finance will play for our transition. But we certainly face challenges here - Australia is near bottom of the pile when it comes to the investment share of the economy relative to our OECD peers. We'll need to make sure we're addressing the factors behind this in order to both keep investment dollars here and attract it from abroad.