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Australia’s energy future and the recovery from COVID-19
This year, we have seen that no-one is immune to the climate crisis, including here in Australia. But it is people living in poverty who are paying the greatest cost, despite having contributed the least to global climate pollution. After decades of decline, the number of people without enough food to eat rose for the third year in a row, to 820 million people, with extreme weather a dominant cause.
The COVID-19 crisis has further exposed the extreme inequalities at the heart of today’s societies. While the billionaire class has seen its wealth increase during the pandemic, many millions of people worldwide have lost their jobs and seen their livelihoods decimated. Many are going hungry and lack access to life-saving healthcare. The economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis could push over half a billion people into poverty.
In efforts to stem the social and economic fallout from COVID-19, governments are responding with unprecedented levels of public spending and economic intervention. The choices being made today will shape our societies for decades to come. When it comes to climate change and inequality – the two defining challenges of our age – they can either sow the seeds of a fairer and more sustainable world or accelerate us down the path to catastrophe.
To better understand the choices Australia faces, we must first take a look at the inequities, injustices and destruction of the fossil fuel era, and the mistakes we risk needlessly repeating. In particular, this paper shows how turning to gas will entrench the same problems as coal, including high energy costs, climate damage and pollution, violation of land rights, and concentration of wealth. It then present an alternative vision of a strong, resilient and equitable recovery led by renewable energy and other climate solutions. It looks at the advantages of renewable energy over fossil fuels for communities around the world. And how Australia, in addition to transforming our own energy system, can also choose to be a catalyst for action beyond our shores.
