Fifteen years ago, Ross Garnaut described policy to deal with climate change as a diabolical problem. As the Albanese Labor government and the Labor-dominated state and territory governments grapple with emission reductions, decarbonisation policy dilemmas have become even more complex, more diabolical.

In 2008, the diabolical problem was that while it was in the interests of all countries for the world to reduce carbon emissions, it was also in the interests of any one country to avoid the cost of decarbonising.