Don’t be gaslit on climate. There’s no going back on this energy transition

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With the political turmoil and the Liberal leadership settled for now, energy and climate issues will surface again. You will hear, for example, that a focus on net zero is the cause of Australia’s high electricity prices, which is not true. Underpinning all this will be statements that the world is moving away from addressing climate change, US President Donald Trump has taken the US out of the Paris Agreement and is now encouraging higher emissions, so why should Australia bother?

Further, you will hear that COP30 was a failure, world emissions are rising, and Australia is doing way more to reduce emissions than others.

The reality is very different. The growth in world emissions has fallen progressively over recent years and, on current trends, they will soon start declining. Likewise, fossil fuel production. And while the world is not currently on track to have temperatures rise by no more than 1.5 degrees, the outlook has improved considerably since the Paris Agreement was adopted 10 years ago.

In 2015, the world was on a disastrous track to see temperatures rise by around 4 degrees above pre-industrial levels. If you ignore commitments and simply take current emission trends forward, the world is currently on track to see temperatures rise by 2.5-2.9........

© The Sydney Morning Herald