Doug Sheridan reflects…
“Cost overruns and delays are making the Australian gov't's target of achieving 82% renewables by 2030 appear increasingly unlikely.”
Doug Sheridan reflects…
Graham Lloyd writes in the Australian, it might be tempting to look down from on high in the green energy transition on the protests of ordinary people worried about the cost and discomfort of change, but evidence is growing that this would be a mistake.
Cost overruns and delays are making the Australian gov't's target of achieving 82% renewables by 2030 appear increasingly unlikely. Together with engineering and financial concerns, there is a public revolt by those who feel they can neither afford it nor understand the need to destroy their piece of nature to save the planet.
This is a phenomenon not confined to Australia. It has been a feature of renewable energy deployment from the start. What has changed is the scale of the ambition and the pushback. It is important that gov't and industry understand what is happening and where it might lead.
Early signs of unravelling are snowballing through Europe where governments in Britain, Germany and France are walking back their ambitions on net-zero, which peaked in the lead up to the 2021 Glasgow climate conference.
For evidence, despite publicity about extreme weather events and negative impacts of climate change, research by global analytics firm Dynata holds some uncomfortable truths. It finds that Australia has one of the largest proportions of people globally who report not being worried about global warming. More than half of Australian consumers are also unwilling or slightly unwilling to adopt a more climate-friendly lifestyle if it costs more money.
Compared with 12 months ago, about the time of the election of the Albanese gov't, 41% of those surveyed said they were less interested in buying a hybrid or EV and 36% were less interested in renewable energy. Rising cost-of-living pressures can help explain the change in sentiment.
To Sum It Up: As the financial reality of decarbonising our lives becomes increasingly clear and expensive there's growing evidence that it's a price many individuals are neither willing nor able to pay.