Regional Australians, including those in coal mining regions, could be the biggest beneficiaries of Australia's transition to renewable energy generation, according to one of the country's leading economists.
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Author of the landmark 2008 climate review Professor Ross Garnaut says the cost of taking action to address climate change has dropped dramatically in the decade since, leaving Australia well positioned to capitalise on the rapid transition to a zero emissions future and become a global energy superpower.
Doing so would unlock cheap energy to refine raw materials rather than ship them overseas and could also create massive opportunities for exporting green power via high capacity undersea cables or as clean hydrogen.
"The economics have changed since my original report," professor Garnaut said during an Australian Community Media podcast interview.
"The opportunities were always there, but now they're much greater and they're coming earlier than anticipated.That's more jobs and higher incomes, disproportionately concentrated on rural and provincial areas and many of the new jobs will be in the areas currently the centre of the coal industry," Professor Garnaut said.
"Carbon farming and biomass will be big industries. Farmers and landowners will earn much more income from this than they currently earn from wool and meat and indigenous communities with management responsibilities for over a million sq kms of the Australian landscape will be doing very well out of that."
He hopes his blueprint for growing Australia's energy sector will finally move the national conversation on from the bitter divisions dominating many conversations over climate change and emissions reductions.
Australia is ramping up investment in a national hydrogen energy industry, with a $370 million fund for new projects gaining support at Friday's Council of Australian Government meeting of state and federal energy ministers in Perth. NSW also announced plans last week to create a massive renewable energy zone centred around Dubbo.
"We have several very big advantages. We have the richest renewable energy resources, definitely of any developed country. Australia still is the lucky country in terms of wind and solar resources.
"So play our cards right on the way to meet our Paris goals, unless we muck it up we should be the low cost energy country in a zero emissions world."
Professor Garnaut said the uncertainty which had inhibited investment in the last decade would fade as the federal goverment came to understand the potential for jobs and growth.
"I'm optimistic about our democracy sooner or later being able to grasp opportunities, the incoherence of the last half dozen years makes one wonder about that but there have been times in history where we've been able to respond to opportunities.
"I'd back Australian democracy to take advantage of the opportunity once it has been explained to the Australian people," he said.
Download the podcast at canberratimes.com.au
Australia's chance to become an 'energy superpower' first appeared on The Canberra Times
