‘The big game is starting now’: Garnaut on emissions in regions

“Not dealing with it is the peril and dealing with it is opportunity,” he said.

Ross Garnaut in 2018. Aaron Francis/The Australian

Economist Ross Garnaut says Australia’s push to lower emissions is going “better than it was, but not as well as it needs to be” and has called for changes to agricultural practices to create zero-emission supply chains.

Professor Garnaut, speaking ahead of a keynote address at the Renewables in Agriculture conference next Wednesday in Dubbo, said the “big game is starting now” for Australian farmers.

“Not dealing with it is the peril and dealing with it is opportunity,” he said.

Professor Garnaut wrote the seminal 2008 report on climate change, commissioned by the Rudd government. He previously served as principal economic ­adviser to Bob Hawke and ambassador to China.

“We have now got ourselves into a position where we can be accepted as being credible players in the zero emissions economy in the international arena,” he told The Australian.

He has long highlighted Australia’s potential to be a “superpower” in renewable energy.

Responding to recent recognition by the government that the renewable energy rollout was not going as quickly as hoped, Professor Garnaut called for more government support.

“Innovation in economic ­activity requires fiscal support or you don’t get enough of it,” he said. He added that Australian farmers had a key role in a net zero transition – removing emissions from supply chains, producing sustainable, economically viable biomass, and offering a market for carbon sequestration.

“Within a few years, we’ll only have access to these high-value markets if we’ve got zero-emissions supply chains,” he said.

“The Europeans have made it quite clear they’re going to put taxes on imports from countries that don’t have zero-emissions supply chains. These will be even higher value markets in the zero emissions economy because domestic suppliers in all those countries will find it harder to get to zero emissions than Australian farmers. It’s more expensive overseas.”

He also predicted demand for biomass. “There’ll be many new industries that require sustainably grown biomass for producing carbon and hydrocarbons without emissions,” he said. “There are many industries that use a lot of carbon or hydrocarbon, but they get it from coal, oil and gas, which have net positive emissions. You can get the same carbon and hydrocarbon from growing biomass.”

He said there would be growing demand for carbon sequestration in farmers’ crops and soil, and that new domestic industries would emerge to create input ­resources required for those new processes.