Future technology won't solve our climate crisis

19 March 2020

The Morrison government has recently reiterated that they won’t make a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, instead announcing a ‘technology road map’ and focusing on hydrogen and lithium technologies to help us achieve our Paris agreement targets.

Putting aside that to uphold our end of the Paris agreement, we will have to become carbon neutral by 2050, the idea that new and emerging technologies will save us from the climate crisis is a popular one, even outside of the government. New technology is created all the time, and surely those smart scientists can find a new way to make our transition to carbon-neutral quick and painless.

Unfortunately, when it comes to limiting our emissions there’s no silver bullet, and there’s unlikely to be one before we hit an increase of 1.5 degrees. However, scientists do say that we already have all the technology we need to get to net-zero.

What we don’t have is the political willpower.

ClimateWorks Australia’s Anna Skarbek and Anna Malos explain in a piece for The Conversation that the electricity, transport, and land sectors all have the technology to be able to significantly cut their emissions, without economic disruption. This can be done in the land sector by revegetation and forestation, in electricity generation by increasing renewables and phasing out coal, in transport by introducing vehicle emission standards and shifting to non-carbon vehicles, and in construction by updating standards for buildings and appliances.

None of these changes are unachievable or unrealistic. Many of these regulations have already been implemented in places like the European Union. With proper planning and policy, the route to net-zero is a lot less painful then it seems.

'Although focusing on shiny new technologies can be exciting, it shouldn’t be at the expense of investing in the technologies we already know work.'

For example, state government initiatives, previous government investments, and market forces have already helped Australia meet its 2020 renewable energy target — meaning 23.5 per cent of our energy production is renewable.

This is a great start, but there’s still a long way to go to net-zero. This is where the Morrison government thinks that new technologies will be able to plug the gap, allowing them to continue on with business as usual.

But although renewables such as wind and solar are tried and tested, and can even be cheaper than non-renewable energy, the technologies that the Morrison government are looking into are still in

ENVIRONMENT

Future technology won't solve our climate crisis

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