Getting to Zero, a new series in The Conversation starting today, examines how – and whether – Australia can meet its net zero emissions target by 2050.
The widespread pessimism about our ability to solve climate change is misplaced. Australia is putting in place the fundamentals of a net zero future. Now we need to go faster.
The rising climate crisis presents an existential threat to humanity yet our government and political system are on a go-slow response. Is this issue too hard for humans to solve?
Child coal miners, Pennsylvania, 1911.
Lewis Wickes Hines/Wikimedia Commons
You might look at the task ahead of weaning ourselves off fossil fuels and despair. But we’ve changed energy sources many times before – and it’s never a straightforward process.
Most people accept our energy system must move from fossil fuels, especially coal, to renewables as soon as practicable. But there are serious obstacles on the ground – literally.
Any smart climate strategy will need to simultaneously move away from fossil fuels and protect biodiversity, including through carbon sink preservation and a shift toward sustainable agriculture.
Australia’s grid will likely get through this angry summer without falling to pieces. But our market operator is worried about the summers after that.
In February 2022 in Brussels, demonstrators (wearing masks of Ursula von der Leyen, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron) protest against the European Commission’s decision to classify gas and nuclear energy as “sustainable”.
François Walschaerts/AFP
While EU countries are capable of initiating strong joint actions, a divide is emerging between countries with very different, even antagonistic, decarbonisation strategies.
We’ll need some new transmission lines to make Australia’s grid ready for the green energy shift. But there are clever ways of making more use out of our existing network.
In the late 1980s, well diggers in Mali struck a rich source of naturally-created hydrogen. Now prospectors are scouring South Australia, looking for natural hydrogen.
Indigenous communities can be involved in renewable energy projects in a number of ways. The benefits of revenues to communities can be important to improving their self-determination and economic reconciliation.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Indigenous economic development corporations can generate income for communities and support the transition to clean energy.
To achieve a sustainable future that benefits Canadians, a coordinated response from households, businesses and the government is essential.
(Shutterstock)
In the fact of economic uncertainty, one question remains: Is it worth investing in a more sustainable Canada, or will it become just another economic burden?
Trucks, with goods, abandoned on Nigeria’s East-West highway cut off by flood in October 2022.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
A heater with a 300-litre tank can store as much energy as a home battery at a fraction of the cost. Being able to store surplus solar energy at the right times helps grid stability and cuts emissions.