The promise and peril of Australian climate leadership under Albanese

Abstract

After nearly a decade of policy inaction by the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison Coalition governments, the election of Anthony Albanese’s Labor government has ushered in expectations of a sea-change in Australian climate policy, one that might allow the country to finally emerge as a global leader on the issue. Yet while years of inaction have left some relatively easy victories for the new government to rack up, the change of leadership and rhetoric obscures some key continuities in the Albanese government’s approach that need to be foregrounded and critiqued by domestic and international audiences alike. In this brief commentary, we consider what the new Labor government might mean for Australian climate action over the coming years. We focus, in particular, on the role that fossil fuel exports will continue to play in overwhelming any emissions cuts achieved domestically, and underscore the need for a much broader and more ambitious national climate strategy designed to wean the country off its reliance on coal and gas revenues.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The ‘Safeguard Mechanism’ is essentially a less conspicuous form of carbon pricing which places caps on emissions from the country’s biggest polluters (defined as any company emitting more than 100,000 tonnes of CO₂-e) and requires them to buy offsets when they exceed the cap. It was introduced by the Abbott government, and although pledges were made to tighten the caps over time, this never occurred, and its efficacy over the past three terms of government is questionable (Australian Climate Council 2022).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by British Academy: [JTAP210019].

Notes on contributors

Robert MacNeil

Robert MacNeil is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on the relationship between neoliberalism and climate policy, with a particular focus on Anglosphere countries.

Gareth A. S. Edwards

Gareth A. S. Edwards is an Associate Professor in the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia and a Visiting Fellow at the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney. In 2021-22 he holds a Leverhulme International Fellowship, and he led the British Academy-funded project ‘A just transition away from coal in Australia’ which this piece developed from.