Bank Australia: How does the Climate Council think Australian communities can be empowered to cut climate pollution 75% by 2030 (including why this is important and what climate pollution means)?
Dr Rayner: Climate pollution is the cause of dangerous climate change, produced mainly through burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. The science is clear that we must slash climate pollution as far and fast as possible this decade to keep our kids safe from the worst impacts of dangerous climate change. Australians are already being harmed by climate change impacts here and now through extreme weather, floods, fires and more. These impacts will only accelerate if we don’t cut climate pollution further and faster now.
Fortunately, we have all the technologies and options we need today to slash climate pollution 75% by 2030 and get on track for net zero by 2035. The solutions we need are proven and available, and millions of Aussies are already taking them up.
For example, we need to accelerate the roll out of renewable wind and solar energy, backed by storage, so we can get coal and gas out of our grid. Already today 40% of the electricity in our main national grid comes from renewables and around 3.6 million households have solar on the roof – cutting their energy bills and climate pollution in one go. We need to help households and businesses go all-electric by embracing options like heat pumps for heating and hot water, and getting off gas. Where I live in the ACT, the community is on a clear path to phase out gas from homes entirely by 2045, and other places like Victoria are doing this too. And we need to give Aussies more options for how they move around, because our cars are a large and still-growing source of climate pollution. Accelerating uptake of EVs and making shared and active transport options much more available is starting to give people the cleaner, cheaper alternatives they need to get around in different ways.
We know what Aussie communities can do to help cut climate pollution, so now it’s about accelerating this progress. Affordable and accessible finance from providers like Bank Australia can help some households embrace these opportunities, while ongoing investment and support from governments at all levels is also essential. That’s why Climate Council works with local governments right up to the federal government to advocate for stronger policies and smart investment that can keep building on our momentum to roll out even more renewable energy, electrify more homes and increase access to cleaner types of transport.
Bank Australia: Seize the Decade report: reaching net zero by 2035 - how is the Climate Council working towards this goal and what can people do to help?
Dr Rayner: Climate Council’s Seize the Decade plan maps out for the first time how Australia can achieve science-aligned cuts to climate pollution by 2030, as part of getting on track for net zero by 2035. It’s a practical plan that includes actions for all levels of government, business and communities, drawing on solutions we already have available today.
We’re now advocating to get the actions in the plan in place ASAP, using Climate Council’s powerful combination of advocacy, communications, community activation and more. Bank Australia’s support has helped us take the insights of this work specifically to local governments around the country, where there’s so much potential for great community-level change.
There’s two important ways that everyone can play a role in cutting climate pollution further and faster towards net zero. First is to take the direct action you can today, wherever it makes sense for you. For households and businesses, that could mean putting solar panels and storage on the roof, upgrading appliances and equipment to go all-electric, switching to an electric vehicle next time you’re upgrading or using shared and active transport more often. There’s so much we can already do to make the move to cleaner energy, buildings and transport; if we all do what we can, that adds us to huge cuts in climate pollution.
The second is to send a clear message to governments at all levels and the businesses you interact with day to day that we need to cut climate pollution further and faster this decade. Federal, state and local governments have played a huge role in driving the progress we’ve made so far, as have big businesses that are leading the way. Stronger action from them, alongside effort by communities, will accelerate this momentum. So talk to your local MP, get in touch with your council, send companies feedback – make your voice heard. The best and most durable change is the one we all come together to build.
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Bank Australia: Seize the Sun report findings - what do people need to know about seizing Australia’s solar potential?
Dr Rayner: Climate Council’s new Seize the Sun report shows how we can deliver one of the big practical steps needed to slash climate pollution further and faster this decade: getting more clean energy into our grid by rolling out more rooftop solar and storage.
Firstly, it’s worth celebrating the huge progress Australia has already made in getting solar onto our roofs. Already today around 3.6 million homes have solar panels installed, and this is saving Aussies a collective $3 billion on their power bills each year.
We’ve made so much progress already but our Seize the Sun report shows there’s plenty more potential to roll out even more rooftop solar and storage – we can double the installed capacity to reach 50 GW by the end of this decade.
Slightly more than half of all owner-occupied houses already have solar installed, while there’s still another 2.8 million households like them that haven’t yet taken it up. At the same time, two-thirds of new homes are being built without a solar system. We can unlock solar savings for over half a million new homeowners this decade by ensuring all new homes have solar from day one.
People living in social housing could benefit the most from solar, with tenants saving up to $270 million a year in power bills and governments saving up to $84 million in annual bill relief if we roll out solar and storage across these rooftops as well. And at the moment nine in 10 small businesses don’t yet have solar panels, so we can help slash business bills and get more clean energy into the grid quickly by expanding uptake here.
Making better use of available rooftop space on existing and new owner-occupied homes, social housing and businesses can see us seize Australia’s solar potential. That’s why the Climate Council is calling for all federal parties to commit to delivering the Aussie Solar Drive in the next term of parliament, to unleash our next big wave of investment in rooftop solar and storage.
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Bank Australia: What are the most important actions people in Australia can take towards a positive climate future?
Dr Rayner: Everything we do now matters, and there’s so much we can do. Staying hopeful and taking practical action is the best way to build a positive climate future. Whether that’s embracing renewable energy like rooftop solar and storage, getting off gas and choosing cleaner transport options in your home, your business, or your community, the solutions we need are all around us. When we each take these practical actions, it helps other important steps become possible - like getting fossil fuels fully out of our energy grid, and growing thriving new clean industries so we can phase out coal and gas from Australian industry and exports.
It has never been more urgent to cut climate pollution, but it has also never been more possible because so many of the solutions we need are proven and available, here and now. The more we do, the more we’ll learn about how to go further and faster so it’s a virtuous cycle of action. I’m so optimistic about what the Aussie community can achieve when we work together to deliver a safer future for our kids. I think we all want to be able to look our kids and grandkids in the eye in the years ahead and say: together, we did everything we could.
