In a speech to the Business Council of Australia, Scott Morrison said that Australia would reach net zero as “quickly as possible, and preferably by 2050, and I’m increasing in confidence with the plan that we’re developing to achieve that.”
“We are not going to meet our climate change targets through punishing taxes. I am not going to tax our industries off the planet. We are going to meet our ambitions with the smartest minds, the best technology and the animal spirits of our business community,” he said.
In the face of the immediate crisis of COVID-19, it was a given that the heavy lifting could not solely be accomplished by “animal spirits” – an extraordinary fiscal response was necessary to defend Australia’s economy and people against the pandemic. Mr Morrison’s speech lacked any kind of commitment for a similar response to what is arguably a graver threat than COVID-19.
Investment managers often highlight that they are taking action on climate change because of a lack of action from the government. Recent comments from members of that government on everything from ANZ’s divestment efforts to the way superannuation funds approach climate risk hardly suggest they’ll be taking a more collaborative approach.
And while higher taxes are hardly desirable – especially if Australia is to someday become an APAC finance and business hub – Mr Morrison’s recent snub from Boris Johnson’s climate summit indicates that there will be other costs for failing to act decisively on climate change. US secretary of state Antony Blinken has also warned that the Biden administration will challenge those countries that continue to invest in new coal power stations.
Mr Morrison believes that net zero will “be achieved by the pioneering entrepreneurialism and innovation of Australia’s industrial workhorses, farmers and scientists.” He’s right. These groups, facing down the extraordinary existential threat of runaway climate change, have a burning platform to prevent it. For whatever reason, Mr Morrison feels he doesn’t.
