Ross Garnaut has called out as “stunning” Labor’s recent deal to avoid imposing export controls on gas producers, but said the decision will be positive for the long-term transition to renewables as it kills forever any notion of a “gas-led recovery”.

In an interview to mark the release of the prominent economist’s latest book on Australia’s zero-carbon future – The Superpower Transformation – Professor Garnaut also said the government’s pending industrial emissions reforms should be regarded an interim step towards an inevitable economy-wide carbon price by 2035.