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The federal election is only four weeks away, so I decided to make an in depth study of the environmental policies of all major political parties and rank them from best to worst:<\/p>\r\n
That didn’t take long.<\/p>\r\n
I’ll give details on their policies below, but if you think preserving the planet is important and you’re only deciding between the major parties, then I recommend giving the Greens your 1st preference, Labor your 2nd, and putting the Coalition below them.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
There are also independent and minor party candidates, but the amount of effort required to outline all their environmental policies — if they even have any — exceeds my available time and motivation.\u00a0 But you can use sites such as Vote Climate One<\/a>, which has ranked everyone on environmental policies from good to meh to bad.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Below I’ll provide the three major party’s positions on:<\/p>\r\n To learn the details, please read on.\u00a0 But I warn you — stop now if you can’t handle the revelation that politics is full of lying liars.<\/p>\r\n Of all the environmental problems the world faces, the most serious is global warming.\u00a0 It’s not that other issues, such as saving native forests, aren’t important.\u00a0 They’re just unlikely to survive the type of bushfire infernos we’ll see when 50+ degree heatwaves become common.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Putting the brakes on global warming by crashing greenhouse gas emissions is vital for protecting the environment as a whole, as well as ensuring the world can feed itself.\u00a0 In 2019 we hit 49.9 degrees in South Australia, so it’s not as if things aren’t hot enough already.<\/p>\r\n This image, taken during our disastrous 2019\/20 bushfire season, is from this BBC news article<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\r\n It may upset some people to learn this, but I’m just going to come straight out and say it — political parties aren’t always 100% honest.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I realise many of you are reeling from shock right now, so if you need a minute to recover or throw up, that’s fine.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Because politicians aren’t always completely honest, promises on emission cuts for the year 2050 are not reliable compared to the ones they make for 2030.\u00a0 This is because they can promise the moon decades in the future, but then not bother to invest in a single moon capture device1<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 But 2030 is only eight years away, so it’s easy to see if they’re actually working towards their target for that year.<\/p>\r\n The emission cuts the three major parties promise for 2030 are:<\/p>\r\n These reductions are from 2005 emissions, which were 388 million tonnes of CO2 or its equivalent.\u00a0 In the 12 months leading up to March 2021 they were 20.8% lower<\/a> than in 2005.\u00a0 This means the Coalition target for 2030 is absolute rubbish and can be met with a reduction of under 1 percentage point per year.\u00a0 The Coalition’s promise is less than what’s likely to occur even if they make no effort at all.\u00a0 The Coalition could even take steps to slow emission reductions and still meet their target.<\/p>\r\n When it comes to 2050, both the Greens and Labor promise zero net emissions.\u00a0 But, despite being 28 years away, the Coalition will only commit to an 85% cut by then.\u00a0 This is despite Scott Morrison saying<\/a> on the 1st of February last year:<\/p>\r\n “Our goal is to reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible, and preferably by 2050.”<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n I guess it must be one of his non-core goals.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The Australian Greens are way ahead of the other two major parties on planned emission cuts and on other environmental issues.\u00a0 Of course, if they weren’t, it would mean they really picked the wrong colour.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I mentioned the Greens want to cut greenhouse gas emissions 75% by 2030 and 100% by 2050, but that’s not quite true.\u00a0 They want Australia to be carbon negative before 2050 and draw down some of the CO2 we’ve emitted into the atmosphere over the past 223 years2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n Cutting emissions 75% over the next 8 years is not a goal without any thought behind it.\u00a0 They have a plan and that’s to introduce a carbon price.\u00a0 Here’s a screen shot of what they say on their site<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n A carbon price means companies emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere have to pay for some of the damage they cause3<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 We used to have one<\/a> and it wasn’t a big deal, despite the fact Tony Abbott got his budgie smugglers in a twist over it.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The important thing is, they have a method that will result in a 75% cut.\u00a0 They’re not pulling figures out of Adam Bandt’s arse.\u00a0 They will also apply a carbon levy to exports.\u00a0 This is something both other major parties are steering well clear of.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Steps the Greens will take to end emissions from fossil fuels include:<\/p>\r\n It’s definitely a good idea to make it clear no development of large new coal projects will be tolerated, so Adani<\/a> (now called Bravus<\/a>) will give up trying to open a new coal mine of disastrous proportions in Queensland.\u00a0 With a domestic carbon price and a carbon levy on fossil fuel exports, what happens on a smaller scale with coal, oil and gas extraction is less important, as it’s likely to soon become uneconomic.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Ending all thermal coal mining by 2030 will be easy thanks to the low and falling cost of renewable generation.\u00a0 Environmental and health benefits will outweigh any costs, but given the age of Australia’s coal power stations and how cheap solar energy generation and battery storage is likely to become, it may easily pay for itself without considering those benefits.<\/p>\r\n What the Greens don’t call for is ending metallurgical coal exports by 2030.\u00a0 This is hard black coal used in steel production.\u00a0 Because steel smelters last a long time and Australia is, by far, the world world’s largest exporter<\/a> of this kind of coal, ending exports by 2030 could disrupt the world economy.\u00a0 But the Greens have a long term plan to deal with this and intend to spend half a billion dollars developing carbon neutral steel production capacity here in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The Greens have big plans for EVs and will promote them in five main ways:<\/p>\r\n If all this is implemented, it will result in a rapid transition to electric road transport.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Electric vehicles are better for society than conventional cars because their environmental and health costs are much less and will continue to decline as our grid becomes cleaner.\u00a0 They also have much lower fuel and maintenance costs.\u00a0 As EVs continue to fall in price they will become cheaper overall than conventional cars.\u00a0 There are claims<\/a> this point has already been passed in Europe.<\/p>\r\n I’m not a big fan of subsidising electric vehicles because it’s more economically efficient to put an upfront charge on the purchase price of conventional vehicles based on their expected emissions and health costs.\u00a0 But I probably won’t win many elections with that attitude.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I do think modest subsidies can be a good idea to encourage EV uptake that maximize the benefit they provide.\u00a0 For example, incentives could be provided to encourage EVs to have efficient onboard chargers and the ability to provide Vehicle to Home<\/a> (V2H) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) services.<\/p>\r\n The Greens also say they’ll encourage moving freight by rail rather than road to reduce emissions from heavy trucks.\u00a0 (This will reduce the road death toll and road repair costs.)\u00a0 They also say they will “clean up” truck fleets.\u00a0 Some consider heavy road transport a particular challenge for EVs, but I expect the fuel and maintenance advantages of electric trucks will rapidly drive diesel trucks out of the market.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The Greens will also…<\/p>\r\n “Provide $1.2b to manufacturers of electric vehicles and electric vehicle components in Australia, building the Australian EV manufacturing industry.”<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n If people want to build electric vehicles in Australia, that’s fine with me.\u00a0 But I don’t see the benefit of providing funding to companies to build them here.\u00a0 While we shouldn’t get in the way of domestic EV manufacture, in real life giving funding to one industry reduces what’s available for others.\u00a0 There are manufacturers of many products in this country — including plenty related to clean energy — who probably think they deserve funding too. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Other transport initiatives of the Greens include:<\/p>\r\n The Greens will provide big subsidies for residential and small business battery storage.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Households will receive up to 50% off the cost of a system or $5,000.\u00a0 Whichever is lowest.\u00a0 Low interest loans of up to $10,000 will be available to cover the remaining cost.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n For small businesses the subsidy will be up to $10,000 and the low interest loan can be up to $50,000.<\/p>\r\n While home and business batteries can assist the integration of renewable energy, subsidising them is an indirect way of reducing emissions.\u00a0 Because there will be a lot of battery storage on wheels under the Greens policies, we may be better off if they put effort into making sure EVs can support the grid.\u00a0 But I do think a modest battery subsidy encouraging Australians to install home batteries<\/a> that can participate in VPPs (Virtual Power Plants)<\/a> is likely to be useful. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n The Greens also say they will create a publicly owned electricity retailer.\u00a0 Hopefully, this will provide VPP plans that return all the money they make above operating costs to households.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The Greens are the only major party to offer incentives for homes and small businesses to stop using gas.\u00a0 While ending all — or almost all — natural gas use is necessary to meet Labor’s 2050 net zero emissions target, the Greens are the only ones strongly committed to starting the process now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n They will provide grants to help pay for replacing gas fired boilers, water heaters, and stoves with electric equivalents.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n For households, the grants can be up to $10,000; with the amount limited to 20% of the total cost or 50% if the household agrees to disconnect from gas within 6 months.\u00a0 They will also provide low interest loans of up to $20,000 to cover the rest of the cost.<\/p>\r\n For businesses, the grant can be up to $25,000 and the loan can be up to $100,000.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The Greens say they will also work with state and territory governments to ban gas connections for new housing developments.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The Greens promise to…<\/p>\r\n “Use government investment to drive new export industries in green hydrogen and minerals processing, ensuring Australia becomes a renewable superpower.”\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n And they also say they will…<\/p>\r\n “Buy Local, Buy Green – make sure the government is buying products made by local workers produced with clean, green materials and power.”\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n These things are opposites.<\/p>\r\n The only way Australia can become a “renewable superpower” is by exporting clean energy and\/or products produced using clean energy.\u00a0 The only point of exporting is to get imports in return.\u00a0 But if everything is made local and we buy everything local, then there is no point to becoming a renewable superpower.\u00a0 Not unless we want to export stuff for free.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n While it may make us feel good to give other countries presents, if Japan is willing to trade us goods in return for green hydrogen or carbon neutral steel, we should take them.\u00a0 Japan is a rich country.\u00a0 They can afford it.\u00a0 If your goal is to be nice, you can take the stuff Japan is offering and give it to poor people.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n But politicians who understand this point<\/a> — or are willing admit they understand it4<\/a><\/sup> — are rarer than hen’s teeth5<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n The Australian Labor Party is well ahead of the Coalition on environmental issues, but far behind the Greens.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Labor promises zero net emissions by 2050.\u00a0 The net part means any emissions will be cancelled out by drawing an equivalent amount of CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering it.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n They’ve promised a 43% cut in emissions by 2030.\u00a0 This will be from 2005 levels and because we’ve already achieved around 20%, this means Labor will cut emissions by under 3 percentage points per year over the next eight years to meet their target.\u00a0 In comparison, the Greens target is close to 7 percentage points per year.<\/p>\r\n The 43% cut is less than the 45% Labor promised in the 2019 election.\u00a0 Labor can claim the Coalition faffing around for three years has made a 45% emission cut harder to achieve.\u00a0 This is true, but doesn’t mean the urgency of situation has declined.\u00a0 There has been mounting evidence we need to rapidly cut emissions.\u00a0 Not just for future generations, but this one right here reading this right now.\u00a0 We’re already suffering significant negative effects from global roasting<\/a> and they’ll only get worse without rapid action.<\/p>\r\n Like the Greens, Labor has a mechanism that will ensure they meet their (lower) target.\u00a0 But instead of putting a price directly on carbon emissions, Labor will use the “Safeguard Mechanism<\/a>“.\u00a0 In a nutshell, companies will be allowed to emit greenhouse gases at around their current level without penalty, but the amount they can legally emit will be gradually lowered to ensure Labor’s emission’s target is reached.\u00a0 If a company wants to emit more than it’s allowed to, it can purchase carbon credits6<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n While this will work, unlike the Greens’ method it won’t raise any revenue for the government.\u00a0 Since Labor has already committed to future tax cuts the Coalition promised, this means they won’t have much tax revenue to do anything new, unless Australia’s economy does extremely well over the next few years7<\/a><\/sup>. But if government subsidized dental care is your worst nightmare, you may consider this a good thing.<\/p>\r\n Labor says they will provide incentives for EVs below the luxury car tax threshold for fuel efficient vehicles.\u00a0 Currently, the threshold is $77,565.\u00a0 They will do this by removing…<\/p>\r\n The removal of the Fringe Benefits tax won’t affect the typical private car purchase, but if Labor gets in I will definitely ask Finn to buy a SolarQuotes electric car for my personal use.\u00a0 If that doesn’t work, I’ll ask for an e-bike.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Eliminating the Fringe Benefits tax will significantly boost the number of EVs bought by companies.\u00a0 It will also increase the number of cars entering the second-hand market faster than other EV incentives.\u00a0 This is because there are plenty of dodgy people out there who will happily use their company’s money to buy a new electric car when the one they’re using is only a few years old.<\/p>\r\n Getting rid of the import tariff on EVs will slightly reduce the price of those that come from Europe and, technically, from places such as Africa, South America, India, Mexico, and Tonga.\u00a0 But they’re kind of thin on the ground at the moment.\u00a0 It’s a 5% tax on the import price of cars and because this comes before a number of other costs, it will only lower the price of a European EV by around 4%.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n These EV incentives will start on the 1st of July 2022 and be reviewed after 3 years.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Labor says they will also look at improving charging infrastructure and otherwise promoting electric vehicles.<\/p>\r\n Added May 2, 2022:<\/strong> On the weekend, Labor unveiled plans for an EV charger rollout<\/a>,\u00a0 with the goal of seeing charging stations at an “average interval of 150km on major roads” across the country. The initiative would involve a $39.3 million government investment, matched by the NRMA, and partnerships with all levels of government, industry and communities.<\/p>\r\n Labor is not promising any subsidies to help households install batteries.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n What they will do is spend $200 million to build 400 community batteries<\/a>.\u00a0 These will have around 500 kilowatt-hours of storage each and be located in towns, suburbs, and cities.\u00a0 Labor says households will be able to store energy in them from their rooftop solar systems during the day and draw this energy at night.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I’ll definitely write in detail about if Labor wins, because it sounds really stupid to me.\u00a0 Installing batteries of around this size in the right locations can be very useful for supporting the grid and avoiding expensive transmission upgrades.\u00a0 But they should just be used to directly lower electricity prices for everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Letting people participate in a scheme where they supposedly can put energy in and take it out again will not improve their operation.\u00a0 It will raise costs because the virtual battery scheme will require money to set up and run.\u00a0 There’s no need to complicate people’s lives by having them participate in Tamagotchi<\/a> like busy work.\u00a0 As Australians become richer and electricity becomes cheaper, we should be thinking less about it, not more.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Tamagotchi (Literal translation: Egg crack dispenser) were like electronic crack for children in the early 90s, up until Nintendo developed real crack for children with Pokemon.<\/p><\/div>\r\n I expect in practice, the virtual battery will be entirely virtual.\u00a0 That is, fake.\u00a0 While the batteries will be there and will work to support the grid, in actual operation there will be no direct link to what people think they are putting in and taking out.\u00a0 This would make the Community Batteries scheme a government supported con job.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n If they are installing 400 batteries that average 500 kilowatt-hours of storage each for $200 million, it comes to $1,000 per kilowatt-hour.\u00a0 That’s pricey for grid batteries, so the price may already include the cost of running the virtual battery scheme.<\/p>\r\n While Labor claims “households” will be able to use the batteries, 400 batteries with 500 kilowatt-hours of storage each only comes to 20 watt-hours of storage per Australian household.\u00a0 That’s enough to run an Xbox for about 12 minutes. (And only if it’s not running hot enough to cook your breakfast on top of it.)<\/p>\r\n Anyway, I’m going to force myself to stop complaining now, because I put $2,000 down on Labor winning yesterday and I’m probably not improving my chances of getting a payout.<\/p>\r\n Labor says it will “invest” $20 billion in improving electricity transmission.\u00a0 I put the word “invest” inside inverted commas, as it’s not currently clear what that means or where the money will come from.\u00a0 Labor says they will also make $3 billion available for various projects that include “clean” metals and hydrogen production.\u00a0 (I’m pretty certain “clean” means carbon neutral and not “well polished”.)<\/p>\r\n Labor’s environmental promises are less impressive than they were for the previous election.\u00a0 They seem to have decided they lost the last one because they promised to make things better, so they’re doing their best to avoid that this time and are relying on winning by simply not being the Coalition.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I find this morally reprehensible given the environmental threats the world faces, but I’ll take “not doing as much as they should” over doing “bugger all”, which is the approach of another major party whose name I won’t mention… until I start a new paragraph.<\/p>\r\n I get the impression the Coalition definitely want you to go to the upper right and “Choose Another Issue”.\u00a0 If they get their way you won’t see any tropical coral reefs in the future.<\/p><\/div>\r\n The Liberal-National Coalition isn’t planning on doing much when it comes to the environment.\u00a0 Sure, they’re not specifically planning to destroy it, but they’re in no hurry to do anything about the destruction that’s currently occurring.\u00a0 Despite this, they haven’t been recalcitrant when it comes to claiming credit for emission reductions that have occurred, despite directly opposing every major policy that contributed to these reductions over the past 13 years.<\/p>\r\n Since 2005, Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by around 20% for the following reasons:<\/p>\r\n The Coalition has at times, and to varying degrees, opposed the first three.\u00a0 They were against the introduction of fuel efficiency standards<\/a>, eliminated Australia’s carbon trading scheme, reduced the Renewable Energy Target.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Global Warming Is Largest Issue<\/h2>\r\n
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2030 Emission Targets<\/h2>\r\n
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The Australian Greens<\/h2>\r\n
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<\/p>\r\nThe Greens & Emission Cuts<\/h2>\r\n
Greens Will Reintroduce A Carbon Price<\/h2>\r\n
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<\/p>\r\nGreens To End Fossil Fuel Use<\/h2>\r\n
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Greens & Electric Vehicles<\/h2>\r\n
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Greens & Oz EV Manufacture<\/h2>\r\n
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Greens’ Other Transport Policies<\/h2>\r\n
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Greens & Batteries<\/h2>\r\n
Greens & Gas<\/h2>\r\n
Politicians Don’t Understand Trade<\/h2>\r\n
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The Australian Labor Party<\/h2>\r\n
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<\/p>\r\nLabor & Emissions<\/h2>\r\n
Labor’s Emission Cut Mechanism<\/h2>\r\n
Labor & Electric Vehicles<\/h2>\r\n
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Labor & Batteries<\/h2>\r\n
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Labor’s Other Initiatives<\/h2>\r\n
Labor Overview<\/h2>\r\n
The Liberal-National Coalition<\/h2>\r\n
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The Coalition & Emissions<\/h2>\r\n
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