Government and Business Perspectives: What are the Opportunities for Innovation to help get us to Net Zero?
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Rising sea levels and sea surface temperatures, increased extreme weather and a climate that has warmed by an average of 1.47 ± 0.24 °C since 1910 has left Australian environments and communities vulnerable.
As we propel ourselves further into a dire climate emergency, reaching net zero is more important than ever.
But with the doom and gloom, comes opportunity. Governments and businesses have a unique chance to harness their resources and implement creative climate mitigation strategies to better the future of Australia.
That opportunity is in front of us.
Clean Technology
Innovative technologies provide a great opportunity to reach net zero. And the good news is, we are already part-way there.
Research on Europe’s net zero pathway suggests that already developed climate technologies, such as solar and wind power, low carbon electricity and hydropower, have the potential to deliver approximately 60 percent of the emissions abatement that will be needed to steady the climate by 2050.
However, ‘potential’ is not the same as ‘sure thing’. Reaching this target requires significant scaling, relying on systematic implementation across a variety of sectors.
What’s more, financing stands in the way of widespread technology implementation, with product and production costs of renewable-energy projects remaining high. Accordingly, scaling must be to a degree that costs can be driven down.
While developed climate technologies have the potential to abate a significant portion of emissions, the remaining 40 percent of emissions abatement will need to come from technologies that are not yet ready.
Augmented innovation is needed to bridge this gap, which is largely dependent on available finance. Luckily, there are many opportunities for the public and private sectors to lend a hand.
The Australian Government offers several grants targeted at emission reduction through innovative technologies. The Advancing Renewables Program, established by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), funds every step of the innovation journey – from research to deployment.
The program is available for climate tech projects that enhance renewable energy and focuses on optimising the transition to renewable electricity, commercialising clean hydrogen, and supporting the transition to low emissions metals. In 2022, ARENA committed to providing up to $40 million to support low cost solar.
In its October 2022-23 Budget, the Government committed to spending almost $25 billion in clean energy. Since then, it has invested $500 million into the Powering Australia Technology Fund to boost the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies.
The Government also invests in low emissions technologies through agencies like the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Clean Energy Regulator (CER).
When it comes to the private sector, there are various ways in which businesses can fund new technologies. Investment funds like Unilever’s Climate and Nature Fund, which has provided $1 billion to scale new climate technologies, and Breakthrough Energy, founded by Bill Gates with a focus on accelerating new technologies, provide valuable opportunities for businesses to contribute to achieving net zero.
Knowledge really is power when it comes to net zero
To mitigate, we need to educate, and teaching children about emission reduction is a great way to foster future innovators.
In Victoria, the curriculum for Grades 1 to 12 includes sustainability as a ‘crosscurriculum priority’. This means that teachers need to apply sustainability as a theme across all subjects. For students who want to take their climate studies further, Environmental Science is offered as a Victorian Certificate of Education elective.
The Victorian Government has also developed The Education and Training Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan 2022–2026 to make sure we have the skills, knowledge and infrastructure to adapt to the impacts of climate change while we are on the path to net zero.
When it comes to further education, universities are innovative hubs that play an important role in reaching net zero. Through collaboration, partnerships and research, universities contribute to our understanding of climate change and have a real-world impact on reducing our carbon footprint.
Net Zero Australia, a partnership between the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, Princeton University and Nous Group, conducted a multi-year study that detailed how Australia can reach net zero and become a major exporter of low emission energy and products by 2050.
At the launch of the study’s interim findings, it was revealed that Australia would need to take significant climate action now if it had any chance of meeting emissions targets in the future.
“Major and long-term investment is required in new renewable generation, electricity transmission, hydrogen supply chains, and more,” Melbourne University Professor Robin Batterham said. “New skills and training are needed to capitalise on Australia’s clean energy potential. This will create new costs, benefits and opportunities.”
In order to meet this future skills demand, the Australian Government has committed to spending $95.6 million as part of its New Energy Apprenticeships program. Announced in February 2023, the program will support 10,000 apprenticeships, with eligible apprentices receiving up to $10,000 to assist with the cost of living.
Carbon offsets – a worthless scheme?
Offsetting is the main way that businesses, particularly large corporations, neutralise their emissions. The way it works is that a company calculates the amount of emissions it is producing. It then purchases the equivalent amount of carbon credits to ‘offset’ those emissions.
The problem is, offsetting does very little to reduce pollution. Instead, it simply allows companies to discharge greenhouse gases while appearing carbon neutral on paper. Further, carbon crediting schemes are notoriously obscure and difficult to regulate.
In fact, a recent investigation into global credit certifier, Verra, found that more than 90 percent of rainforest offset credits are likely to be “phantom credits” and do not represent genuine carbon reductions. Verra is used by major corporations like Shell, Disney, Gucci and BHP.
While offsetting does mitigate the harm of those emissions that cannot be avoided, it is largely ineffective in fighting the climate crisis. Avoiding and reducing emissions should always be corporations’ top priority if they are genuinely carbon neutral.
Endless opportunity
The opportunities for innovation to get to net carbon zero are endless.
Governments and businesses have the chance to contribute meaningfully to the protection of the environment, whether it be through investment in clean tech, education or regulation of carbon offsetting schemes.
With the required finance, skills, resources and ingenuity — and of course a strong belief in what can be done is actually right for our planet and those humans who’ll inherit this world — we can collectively reduce our carbon footprint and achieve net zero.
