For example, a 2020 study from Oxford University, led by an Australian economist and a Nobel laureate, found that low-carbon COVID-19 recovery packages with policy interventions focused on investment in low-carbon investments are compatible with enhanced economic development.
Loading
BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink highlights climate risk as both an investment risk and a historic investment opportunity. We are rapidly reaching a point where the cost of not acting on climate change is greater than the cost of acting.
And in WA, despite our physical isolation, we are not immune to climate change. From our city’s adaptive water source diversification push from dams to groundwater to desalination and the recent Perth hills bushfires – which were likely exacerbated by warming and drying trends – we are experiencing impacts closer to home year-on-year.
In terms of progress, we are seeing some local business and political leaders putting their money where their mouth is.
Two of our state’s wealthiest businesspeople – Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart – have recently signalled investment interest in low-carbon opportunities. Similarly, the opposition Liberal Party has usurped their national colleagues by announcing a state target for government to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.
However, we are not yet seeing the same bold leadership on climate change by the current state government as we have witnessed on COVID-19.
In fact, climate change has only been mentioned in just 0.2 per cent of the state government’s public statements since 2017. This does not seem reflective of increasing community support for action on climate, let alone ambitious actions from other countries.
So, should the overwhelming weight of science, increasing international action and clearer economic and social imperatives move us towards the integration of stronger climate action into WA’s COVID-19 recovery?
Perhaps we can start by collectively exploring opportunities more like our curious native emu than adopting the fabled action of the similarly sized ostrich, sticking its head in the sand in the hope that such a threat will pass it by.
WA has many opportunities to explore for a lower-carbon, more climate resilient pathway out of COVID-19.
Loading
From developing our vast renewable resources, extending home solar subsidies and expanding low-carbon public transport networks through to increasing home and commercial building energy efficiencies and rehabilitating salt-affected lands in the Wheatbelt. These and more opportunities abound with the potential to support quality jobs.
State leadership during COVID-19 has gone well beyond business-as-usual. We now have an opportunity to carry that momentum forward into a ‘next normal’ by integrating climate action into our COVID-19 recovery.
Dr Brad Hiller is a climate change and sustainable development specialist, having worked with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and University of Cambridge.
Most Viewed in National
Loading
