Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 1: bunjelung Caalcuttin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It's Thursday,
Speaker 2: the ninth of November. I'm Sam, I'm Zara. The Treasurer
Speaker 2: Jim Chalmers has indicated we need to be doing more
Speaker 2: to ensure we have enough renewable energy to meet our targets.
Speaker 2: When we talk about the climate, we often talk about
Speaker 2: how Australia is tracking in reaching net zero, but what
Speaker 2: does net zero even mean? How do we get there?
Speaker 2: And how well is Australia tracking towards that goal.
Speaker 3: We're not on track. We've seen some positive steps in
Speaker 3: the last year, but goodness we've got a lot more
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: Simon Bradshaw, head of Research at the Climate Council, is
Speaker 2: going to help us answer some of those questions in
Speaker 2: today's deep dive, but first, I couldn't use my phone
Speaker 2: yesterday you couldn't.
Speaker 4: We all went a bit back in time, or at
Speaker 4: least those of us who are Optus customers. There was
Speaker 4: a major Optis outage for a number of hours, but
Speaker 4: in the afternoon yesterday the company did confirm it had
Speaker 4: begun restoring services. For the whole morning, mobile coverage, data,
Speaker 4: phone and internet services were disrupted across the country. It's
Speaker 4: not yet clear what caused the outage, though a fault
Speaker 4: deep in the core of the Optus network is said
Speaker 4: to have caused it.
Speaker 2: Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi has arrived in the Cook Islands
Speaker 2: for the Pacific Islands Forum. This will be Albanesi's first
Speaker 2: visit to the region as Prime Minister and his second
Speaker 2: Pacific Islands Forum. Climate change and security matters are expected
Speaker 2: to be discussed amongst leaders from eighteen different Pacific countries.
Speaker 4: META and the Australian Federal Police will pun on a
Speaker 4: program to raise awareness about online sex stortion among younger
Speaker 4: people familiar with the term sextortion is a word to
Speaker 4: describe when a person is tricked into sending sexual images
Speaker 4: online and then blackmailed or threatened by whoever they sent
Speaker 4: the image to a social media awareness campaign will promote
Speaker 4: educational quizzes and videos about sextortion.
Speaker 2: And today's good news. A rare lizard in northeast Queensland
Speaker 2: has been spotted by scientists for the first time in
Speaker 2: forty two years. All three species of the grassland stripped
Speaker 2: skink were spotted three hundred kilometers south of Cans. It's
Speaker 2: been hailed as an amazing discovery that will support further
Speaker 2: research into the species. Okay, Zara, it's been a little
Speaker 2: while on the podcast since we've given you an update
Speaker 2: on how we're tracking in terms of our renewable energy targets.
Speaker 5: In some of that, I think that we've ever spoken
Speaker 5: about it.
Speaker 2: I think we talked about it in the context of
Speaker 2: the federal election and the new Albanzi government. That's how
Speaker 2: far back it was.
Speaker 4: Yeah, But I think that we often talk about commitments
Speaker 4: and time and i'd say very rarely actually stand back
Speaker 4: to look at you know. I think people have short
Speaker 4: memories and we're told something and it's committed to, but
Speaker 4: very rarely, i'd say, do we as the media actually
Speaker 4: follow up on seeing how we're tracking as a country
Speaker 4: against those.
Speaker 2: Targets, especially outside of the context of an election. We
Speaker 2: know they're going to be talked about at election time,
Speaker 2: but we're not near an election now. And last week
Speaker 2: the Treasurer Jim Chalmers gave a speech where he said
Speaker 2: we need to be doing more to ensure we have
Speaker 2: enough renewable energy to meet our targets.
Speaker 4: So you're speaking there about emissions reductions target. So the
Speaker 4: government has set one of those targets, and I'll say
Speaker 4: it's the longer term target. We're in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4: Now this is a twenty fifty target, but it's to
Speaker 4: reach net zero by twenty fifty. Can you just talk
Speaker 4: me through what that commitment looks like.
Speaker 2: First, Yeah, so net zero means the amount of carbon
Speaker 2: that we're pumping into the atmosphere through the ways that
Speaker 2: we burn energy is equal to the amount of carbon
Speaker 2: taken out of the atmosphere, and it is a really
Speaker 2: fine balancing act. We release carbon emissions through things like trains, planes, cars,
Speaker 2: even things like cooking up a meal, heating something up
Speaker 2: in the microwave, and they would all need to be
Speaker 2: canceled out by the amount of carbon that we take
Speaker 2: out of the atmosphere.
Speaker 5: We always used to speak about it as a bath tub.
Speaker 2: Yeah, where the sinkhole is letting water out of the
Speaker 2: bath as quickly as water is being poured into the bath.
Speaker 2: So then the question becomes, well, how do you take
Speaker 2: carbon out of the atmosphere? And that can be done
Speaker 2: through things like planting trees, but also through technology like
Speaker 2: carbon capturing. And if you want to know more about
Speaker 2: how that kind of technology could work, I'm going to
Speaker 2: throw a link into they's show notes to an episode
Speaker 2: we've done called Dumping Carbon at the Bottom of the Ocean.
Speaker 2: But a net zero world, which is essentially what we're
Speaker 2: all working towards, is ultimately where there's no carbon going
Speaker 2: into the atmosphere at.
Speaker 4: All, all right, And that is aspirationally what we are
Speaker 4: looking at for the future, a world in which that
Speaker 4: is happening. The government has said that that could be
Speaker 4: happening by twenty fifty.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And the way that I always think about those
Speaker 2: types of timelines is my own age. So I'm twenty six.
Speaker 2: I was thinking about your age. So I'm twenty eight
Speaker 2: and you're twenty six, And in twenty fifty, when this
Speaker 2: goal is meant to be hit, I'll be fifty four
Speaker 2: and you'll be fifty two. Now, in order to get
Speaker 2: to a point where you and I are in our
Speaker 2: mid fifties and there's net zero, there's some key targets
Speaker 2: the government says we need to meet along the way.
Speaker 2: So what they've done is they've also set some targets
Speaker 2: for twenty thirty, and an important target there is that
Speaker 2: eighty two percent of energy generation will come from renewable sources.
Speaker 2: And the aim is that we would have reduced our
Speaker 2: missions by forty three percent below the two thousand and
Speaker 2: five levels by that twenty thirty point.
Speaker 4: All right, So it's almost this game of incrementalism, as
Speaker 4: it were, because we've got this twenty thirty target that
Speaker 4: we actually need to be very close to meetings soon.
Speaker 4: We're already in twenty twenty three, six and a half years.
Speaker 4: How is the government saying we're going on meeting that target?
Speaker 4: The target that they set at the last election.
Speaker 2: Well, let's zone in on the eighty two percent number.
Speaker 2: So they wanted eighty two percent of energy generation to
Speaker 2: come from renewables by twenty thirty.
Speaker 5: Twenty thirty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So currently government data shows renewables like wind and
Speaker 2: solar are making up about thirty three percent of Australia's
Speaker 2: energy generation. That's a long way off that eighty two
Speaker 2: percent number.
Speaker 5: I can't do maths, but that seems really far.
Speaker 2: We'd need to more than double and there's only six
Speaker 2: and a half years or six and a bit years
Speaker 2: to go until that goal. So I guess the question
Speaker 2: then is can we even do that? Can we more
Speaker 2: than double how much renewable energy we're using by twenty thirty?
Speaker 2: And the news isn't great. So Clean Energy Advisory Group
Speaker 2: NESA has found its quote extremely unlikely that Australia will
Speaker 2: achieve that twenty thirty target. Similarly, a report from Riistad
Speaker 2: Energy has estimated that this rate, we're going to get
Speaker 2: to sixty four percent renewable generation by the end of
Speaker 2: the decade. So basically, based on how things are going now,
Speaker 2: the energy experts aren't confident we're going to get there.
Speaker 4: If they're not confident we'll get to twenty thirty, presumably
Speaker 4: that would have a knock on effect to our chances
Speaker 4: of reaching net zero by twenty fifty.
Speaker 2: Right, it's a really good question. So one of our journalists,
Speaker 2: Harry Seklic, reached out to an expert, doctor Simon Bradshaw,
Speaker 2: and he's the head of research at the Climate Council.
Speaker 3: We've got a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2: We're not on track, Doctor Bradshaw said. Some progress has
Speaker 2: been made, there are more renewables in the energy grid,
Speaker 2: but he did say that we're not going to get
Speaker 2: to net zero unless things speed up rapidly.
Speaker 3: It means moving from what has been some small steps
Speaker 3: so far to a real step change, a quantum leap
Speaker 3: if you like, when it comes to the pace that
Speaker 3: we really need to be rolling out these solutions. All right.
Speaker 4: So that's an expert point of view on how Australia
Speaker 4: is going. Of course, we know that when it comes
Speaker 4: to climate it's not an Australia unique problem, that it's
Speaker 4: one that the whole world needs to fight together. How
Speaker 4: are we going compared to the rest of the world.
Speaker 2: Well, overall, Australia is ranking fairly low in our emissions
Speaker 2: targets and progress.
Speaker 5: Just full of good news today.
Speaker 2: I know it's not a bright episode, but it's important
Speaker 2: and worth talking about. So the latest Climate Change Performance
Speaker 2: Index has Australia ranked in the bottom ten for emissions.
Speaker 2: The index ranked Australia is having higher emissions than places
Speaker 2: like India, the UK, and China, and it was critical
Speaker 2: of Australia's continued colon gas mining and subsidies that are
Speaker 2: offered to fossil fuel companies. And Australia was additionally called
Speaker 2: out as part of the G twenty countries responsible for
Speaker 2: three quarters of global emissions.
Speaker 4: So against that context, we've heard Australia might not be
Speaker 4: on track to meet it's emissions targets.
Speaker 5: Is the world more generally on track?
Speaker 2: Well, pretty much every government is tackling their own net
Speaker 2: zero challenges, and ultimately, in order for everyone to reach
Speaker 2: their goals by twenty fifty, UN scientists have called for
Speaker 2: what they describe as a complete transformation of the industries
Speaker 2: to reach net zero, and most of that is going
Speaker 2: to have to come from reducing reliance on fossil fuels
Speaker 2: for heating and cooling. And the reason why that's so important,
Speaker 2: why that kind of holds the key to all of this,
Speaker 2: is because three quarters of the world's emissions come from
Speaker 2: energy generation. So overall, the UN doesn't have good news.
Speaker 2: They say that the world won't reach net zero by
Speaker 2: twenty fifty because most governments haven't made commitments significant enough
Speaker 2: to reduce screenhouse gas emissions and.
Speaker 4: I guess even if they do have those targets, it
Speaker 4: appears that even if you have them, you might not
Speaker 4: be getting there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, and I think some of the discussions around
Speaker 2: the twenty thirty targets really drive that point home.
Speaker 4: I mean, we started a steep dive based on a
Speaker 4: quote by Jim Chalmers, our Federal treasure about the fact
Speaker 4: that more needs to be done in order for Australia
Speaker 4: to meet its emissions reductions targets. I do think that
Speaker 4: there is an element of irony in those comments though,
Speaker 4: that we are hearing this from the Federal Treasurer, whose government.
Speaker 4: You know, while they've only been in power for what
Speaker 4: is a year and a half, they are responsible for
Speaker 4: getting the country to a place where we are meeting
Speaker 4: those emissions reductions targets and implementing the right policies. And
Speaker 4: I mean, we've spoken a number of times on this
Speaker 4: podcast about the fact that the government is still approving
Speaker 4: oil and gas projects and that that perhaps is slowing
Speaker 4: down our country's progress against these milestones. I'm curious to
Speaker 4: see whether the government will have any kind of major
Speaker 4: departure from the policy it has now If it gets
Speaker 4: closer and closer to twenty thirty and it's clear or
Speaker 4: not on track.
Speaker 2: And that's a question we should continue to put to
Speaker 2: them as we get closer to twenty thirty, is are
Speaker 2: we going to reach those goals? And if we get
Speaker 2: to a point where they answer with no, we're not
Speaker 2: going to reach them. There needs to be a meaningful
Speaker 2: discussion about what happens next. Thanks for joining us for
Speaker 2: this episode of The Daily OS. If you learn something
Speaker 2: from the episode, there's one super small task you can
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