Tables turning on climate action

Two years after riding a wave of climate ambition to government, Anthony Albanese must be wondering what has happened to turn the tables so quickly. Peter Dutton has managed to tap into concerns over the pace and cost of delivery of Labor’s 2030 emissions reduction target and Nationals leader David Littleproud is implausibly starting to sound like a modern-day Joni Mitchell of Big Yellow Taxi fame – “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”.

As we reported on Saturday, the renewables industry, used to getting its way on government support and subsidies, is sounding the alarm that things are not going as it had expected. There is a further wake-up call in the fact that the big energy companies, AGL and Origin, have hardened their investment view towards renewables. Both have said they will forego investment in big new wind and solar generation and instead focus on ancillary and back-up services such as pumped hydro, gas and batteries.

The new approach marks a turnaround from earlier promises to make investments worth tens of billions of dollars in renewables, and reflects both the difficulties in making investments and renewed uncertainty given Mr Dutton’s plan to use gas as a transition to nuclear with net zero in 2050 being a more important target than higher ambition for 2030 or 2035. Mr Littleproud upped the stakes further on Monday when he declared a future Coalition government would scrap an offshore wind industry and concentrate on rooftop solar because of its lesser impact on the environment.

Environmental concerns are starting to bite both for offshore projects and in rural and regional areas, where a big rollout of transmission lines and renewable energy projects will be needed to meet the federal government’s existing target to cut emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.

As a measure of frustration, the Clean Energy Investor Group has hit out at new federal guidelines for project ­approvals, arguing they are too tough. It wants to weaken the need for bird surveys and other measures to speed approvals.

This is a slippery and difficult slope for a government that is finding itself increasingly wedged between its international promises and domestic concerns about the environment and cost of living. The one thing that has not changed is the fact voters have always said they wanted action on climate change but were not prepared to pay much, if anything, for it. The claim that renewables are the cheapest and best option is being questioned and voters are listening.