Climate Change – Ross Garnaut

Australia: Made for Free Trade and a Tax on Rent, 132nd Henry George Address, Kelvin Club Melbourne, 7 September 2023.

Prospects of Energy Transition in Indonesia, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Routledge Taylor & Francis group, 2023.

China in the Global Response to Climate Change, China & World Economy, 44-61, Vol. 31, No. 1, 2023, China in the Global Response to Climate Change

Asian-Pac Economic Lit – 2023 – Garnaut – Economic ideas and policy outcomes: applications to climate and energy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Canberra * the paper presents a revised version of the FH Gruen lecture by Professor Ross Garnaut at the Australian National University on 29 June 2022.

Dr Ross Garnaut AO – ‘Superpower Transformation: The Green & Gold Transition’ 2nd Renaissance with Anders Sörman-Nilsson (spotify.com) 15 February 2023

Climate Futures Summit, Keynote Address, The University of Melbourne, 6 October 2022

Sunday 2/10/2022 : ABC iview, Landline Biochar Segment

FH Gruen lecture, Economic Ideas and Policy Outcomes: Applications to Climate and Energy, 29 June 2022.

Australian Financial Review – Climate Change

Why we need to stop kidding ourselves about climate change Australian Financial Review. 25 April 2022

Australian Financial Review “After Glasgow” Series

Catch the energy superpower tide to defeat recovery headwinds Australian Financial Review. 12 December 2021

Voluntary climate action won’t reach net zero Australian Financial Review. 5 December 2021

Climate protectionism wastes Australia’s energy comparative advantage Australian Financial Review. 28 November 2021

Morrison plan is kidding about Australia reaching net zero Australian Financial Review. 21 November 2021

Australia’s missed energy opportunity in Glasgow Australian Financial Review. 14 November 2021

LeadIN Mackay-Opportunities in a Post COVID-19 World. 11 March 2022.

SACCOS Liveable Futures Keynote Ross Garnaut, 18 November 2021.

NRM in the Rangelands Conference: Welcome Address & the John Milne Memorial Lecture, Ross Garnaut. 5 October 2021.

Growing your business in the low carbon economy – ZEN Energy Webinar. 1 September 2021.

Upper Spencer Gulf Development in a ZERO Carbon World- Ross Garnaut. Special Keynote Address: 17th GMUSG Conference and Trade Expo 2021. 18 August 2021.

Australia’s low-carbon opportunity: Q&A with Professor Ross Garnaut. Australian Conservation Foundation. 3 December 2020.

Sustainable Debt Summit Keynote address: Ross Garnaut. KangaNews. 24th November 2020.

South Australia’s Climate Change Challenge and Opportunity Ross Garnaut. Government of South Australia. Thursday 17th September 2020.

An Economy the Cares for Our Common Home. Ross Garnaut, Tim Buckley, Bronwyn Ley. Catholic Earthcare Australia Convocation. 4th September 2020.

Powering Up: Opportunities for Australian Manufacturing in the Era of Renewables. Australia Institute. Friday 8th May 2020

Keynote address at Australian Trade Union Institute forum. Australian Council of Trade Unions. 23rd March 2020.

Our Green Super Future. The Deal Magazine, The Australian. 20th March 2020.

Australia as a Sustainability Superpower. AEGN Virtual Conference. Wednesday 18th March 2020.

How on Earth: Christiana Figueres and Ross Garnaut on Climate Solutions Now conversation. The Wheeler Centre Events. 13th March 2020

A Carbon Free Future: Ross Garnaut and Tim Flannery. Adelaide Writers Week Festival. 2nd March 2020.

Zero net carbon choice: do we want to be losers or winners? Opinion in the Sydney Morning Herald. Ross Gittins. 29th January 2020.

After the smoke clears: a path to zero emissions. The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 January 2020.

We believe in the free flow of information. The Conversation. 6 November 2019.

Taking our chance: the low-carbon future should belong to Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 November 2019.

Wrong side of the chasm: Australia can still cross the bridge to a low-carbon world. The Guardian. 3 November 2019.

Three reforms that can make us the world’s low-carbon superpower. Australian Financial Review. 4 November 2019.

Australia could fall apart under climate change. But there’s a way to avoid it. The Conversation. 6 November 2019.

Our opportunity to feed the future. Bega District News. 7 November 2019.

Ross Garnaut, Superpower: Australia’s low carbon opportunity, Black Inc., 2019

‘Lecture Six: Australia – Superpower of the Zero Emissions Global Economy’, Climate & Energy Transition Lecture Series, as delivered at The University of Melbourne, 15 May 2019. View video recording here.

‘Lecture Five: Transforming Land Use & Food Production & Consumption’, Climate & Energy Transition Lecture Series, as delivered at The University of Melbourne, 8 May 2019. View video recording here.

‘Lecture Four: Decarbonising Transport and Industry’, Climate & Energy Transition Lecture Series, as delivered at The University of Melbourne, 1 May 2019. View video recording here.

‘Lecture Three: Decarbonising Electricity with Security, Reliability and Lower Costs’, Climate & Energy Transition Lecture Series, as delivered at The University of Melbourne, 24 April 2019. View video recording here.

‘Lecture Two: The Complex International and Domestic Economics of Climate Change’, Climate & Energy Transition Lecture Series, as delivered at The University of Melbourne, 17 April 2019. View video recording here.

‘Lecture One: Exorcising the Diabolical Policy Problem’, Climate & Energy Transition Lecture Series, as delivered at The University of Melbourne, 3 April 2019. View video recording here.

Keynote Address at the Australian Financial Review’s National Energy Summit, ‘Renewable Energy – A Game Changer‘ audio, as delivered in Sydney, October 10 2018. Audio to play alongside slides below

Keynote Address at the Australian Financial Review’s National Energy Summit, ‘Renewable Energy – A Game Changer‘ Slides, as delivered in Sydney, October 10 2018. Slides to play alongside audio link above

Ten years after the Garnaut report: where is climate and energy, Op- Ed in the Australian Financial Review, Ross Garnaut, 9 October 2018

‘Policy muddle’, but Ross Garnaut holds high hopes 10 years after his Climate Change Review” Editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Hannam, 30 September 2018

2018 Mitigating the impact of Climate Change, in CEDA Top 10 Speeches: Energy 2007-17. Published by CEDA, Melbourne, pp. 17 – 30

Interview with Melinda Cilento, CEO of CEDA, following Ross Garnaut’s inclusion in CEDA’s Top Ten Speeches: Energy 2007-2017.Melbourne, 15 March 2018 https://youtu.be/Z80o8AB0WvI

Keynote Address of Professor Ross Garnaut’s Plenary Speech: Australia as an Energy Superpower in a Low- Carbon World, 2018 Annual AARES Conference, Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia, 7 February 2018

Presentation of Professor Ross Garnaut’s Climate Change Briefing, South Australian Government Climate Change And Energy Roundtable, delivered on November 23, Parliament House, South Australia 2017

Edited Transcript of Professor Ross Garnaut’s Public Lecture: Australia as a Superpower of the Low Carbon World Economy: a Western Australian Perspective after Finkel and Frydenberg. Hosted by Murdoch University, Perth, 3 November 2017

Audio recording of Professor Ross Garnaut’s Public Lecture: Australia as a Superpower of the Low Carbon World Economy: a Western Australian Perspective after Finkel and Frydenberg. Hosted by Murdoch University, Perth, 3 November 2017

Podcast of Victorian Country Hour live from Northern Victorian Energy Roundtable Event in Shepparton. Hosted by Nikolai Beliharz, Shepparton, 26 October 2017

Transcript of Ross Garnaut’s Public Lecture: Energy Security, Reducing Energy Costs and Mitigating Climate Change: Does Finkel Solve the Trilemma? Including charts. Hosted by Faculty of Business and Economics, Melbourne Energy Institute, Australian German Climate and Energy College and Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at The Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Melbourne, 3 July 2017

Video recording of Professor Ross Garnaut’s Public Lecture: Does Finkel Solve the Trilemma?’ Hosted by Faculty of Business and Economics, Melbourne Energy Institute, Australian German Climate and Energy College and Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at The Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Melbourne, 3 July 2017

Podcast of Victorian climate change briefing to members of the Victorian State Parliament with Ross Garnaut and Malte Meinshausen. Briefing hosted by Environment Victoria, Parliament House, Melbourne, 23 November 2016.

Australia After Paris: Will we use our potential to be the energy superpower of the low carbon world? Public lecture hosted by the Young Energy Professionals, State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth, 21 January 2016

Statement of Interest in ZEN Energy, 26 October 2015

The Essential Role of Carbon Pricing, opening plenary presentation delivered at the 16th Global Conference on Environmental Taxation, University of Technology, Sydney, 24 September 2015

Australia: Energy Superpower of the Low-Carbon World, 2015 Luxton Memorial Lecture, University of Adelaide, 23 June 2015

Australian Climate Change Policy, article published on John Menadue’s blog Pearls and Irritations, 10 June 2015. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald each extracted part of the piece for publication on 14 June 2015.

Video recording of Imagine the Future – Australia 2030, closing plenary address at the 2nd Australian Emissions Reduction Summit, Melbourne, 6 May 2015

Submission to the Review of Australia’s Post-2020 Emissions Reductions Target (task force coordinated by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet), 30 April 2015

Abbott Government’s Energy White Paper Fails to Face Reality, Australian Financial Review, 15 April 2015

Ross Garnaut and Tony Jones Discuss the US-China Deal on Carbon Emissions – ABC Lateline interview 13 November 2014

Bloomberg BNA article by Murray Griffin “What Price Carbon? Industy’s Hand in Rise and Fall of Australia’s Climate Change Law” 26 August 2014

China’s Energy Transition: Effects on Global Climate and Sustainable Development – public lecture by Ross Garnaut at The University of Melbourne, 25 August 2014 Video recording of the lecture available here

Asked to comment on Greg Boyce’s remarks in the Australian Financial Review article “Coal always wins”, Garnaut said: “I recognize that my published analysis since 2011 has not been welcomed by corporate leaders in the coal industry. Regrettably, in economics as in physics, facts do not go away simply because corporate leaders don’t like them. I have simply been working through the changes that have been occurring in Chinese economic policy and structure since 2011. Shareholders in coal companies whose leaders have taken this work seriously are now richer than shareholders in coal businesses whose leaders have closed their eyes”. 12 August 2014.

The Conversation Q&A “There is no doubt Australia is out of step”, 14 July 2014

Changing Climate on Climate, presentation to Pathways to Growth: The Reform Imperative, 2014 Economic and Social Outlook Conference, Melbourne, 4 July 2014

Forthcoming 2014 article “China’s Role in Global Climate Change Mitigation” to be published in the China & World Economy Journal will be available online shortly

2014 John Freebairn Lecture by Ross Garnaut, Resolving Energy Policy Dilemmas in an Age of Carbon Constraints, The University of Melbourne, 20 May 2014 Video of the lecture: Available here

Power Failure, speech by Ross Garnaut at the book launch of Power Failure by Philip Chubb, Melbourne, 14 May 2014

Ross Garnaut and Clive Palmer Debate Climate Change Policy – ABC Lateline 3 April 2014

Opposing Repeal Serves West Australian Interests: Why Cameron and Merkel are watching WA, speaking notes used in Ross Garnaut’s presentation to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, Perth, 1 April 2014

Let’s Not Blow the Budget on Direct Action, article by Ross Garnaut in The Australian Financial Review, 19 March 2014 (written in response to Greg Hunt’s letter to the Australian Financial Review, 17 March 2014)

Early Action Required on All Fronts, article by Ross Garnaut in The Australian Financial Review, 15 March 2014

Indirect Action, article by Ross Garnaut in The Saturday Paper, 15 March 2014

2020 Emissions Budget Short by Billions, article by Joanna Mather in the Australian Financial Review, 7 March 2014

Garnaut submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Committee Inquiry into the Direct Action Plan, 7 March 2014

Occasional Address at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Graduation Ceremony, The University of Sydney, 11 October 2013

Transcript of Grattan Institute event “Australia and California: The climate action conversation”, discussion with Mary Nichols, Ross Garnaut and Tony Wood, Melbourne, 31 July 2013 (Audio Podcast available here)

China’s Climate Change Mitigation in International Context: Issues for Australia and China – Ross Garnaut, Chapter 14 of China: A New Model for Growth and Development (edited by R. Garnaut, Cai Fang and Ligang Song), ANU Epress Canberra co-published with Social Sciences Academic Press China

Video recording of Grattan Institute event “What should be Australia’s emissions reduction target?”, discussion with Anthea Harris, Ross Garnaut and Tony Wood, Melbourne, 6 May 2013

Overview of challenges in the design of the 2015 agreement: participation, ambition, durability and implementation – Powerpoint presentation to the UNFCCC Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action workshop on Scope, Structure and Design of the 2015 Agreement, 29 April 2013

National Contributions to the Global Mitigation Effort: Issues for Australia and China – Keynote presentation to ‘The design and development of cost-effective market mechanisms for carbon emissions reductions in China: Economic modelling and international experience’, National Development and Reform Commission/State Information Centre Carbon Market Beijing International Workshop, Beijing, 31 January 2013

Reflections on the Economics of Australia’s Carbon Price – Presentation to The University of Queensland’s Second Risk and Sustainable Management Group Workshop “Carbon Pricing: Early Experience and Future Prospects”, Brisbane, 25 October 2012

Removing Climate Change as a Barrier to Economic Progress – The Twenty-second Colin Clark Memorial Lecture, delivered September 2012 at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, published in Economic Analysis & Policy, Volume 43 Number 1, March 2013

Submission by Ross Garnaut to the Climate Change Authority’s Review of the Renewable Energy Target, 14 September 2012

Lateline, “Carbon tax ‘economically efficient’: Garnaut”, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Transcript, 2 July 2012 (NB: During this interview, I refer to a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. The reference should be to the Court of Appeal of the United States of America. Ross Garnaut)

The Role of the CDM in Future Trading of Credits From Avoided Emissions, Research paper written at the request of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change High-Level Panel for the CDM Policy Dialogue, July 2012

Can humanity manage the Anthropocene: The challenge of climate change, address to the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes, Australian National University, Canberra, 15 June 2012

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The Garnaut Climate Change Review – Update 2011

Final Report

Summary of Final Report

In November 2010 the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency commissioned Professor Garnaut to update significant elements of his 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review. The review update will update elements of the Garnaut Climate Change Review where significant changes have occurred, or the sum of expert knowledge has increased, since the original analysis for the 2008 Review was undertaken; and where such changes or improvements in expert knowledge could have significant implications for the key findings and recommendations of the 2008 Review.

The Review Update should consider:

international developments on climate change mitigation efforts;
developments in climate change science, and understanding of climate change impacts;
previous proposals to develop a carbon price in Australia, and the ensuing public debate;
domestic and international emissions trends;
changes in low emissions technology costs and availability;
the potential for abatement within the land sector; and
developments in the Australian electricity market.

Throughout the Review Update, consultation with key stakeholders will be required to understand views and inform analysis.

A series of publicly released papers is to be prepared between November 2010 and March 2011. A final report is to be presented to the Government by 31 May 2011. The Report will embody the independent judgments of its author.

Update Papers:

Update Paper 1: Weighing the costs and benefits of climate change action, BMW Edge, Melbourne, 3 February 2011

– Transcript of delivery of Update Paper 1 –

– Transcript of media briefing: Release of Update Paper 1, Canberra, 3 February 2011 –

Update Paper 2: Progress towards effective global action on climate change, Lowy Institute for International Policy Sydney, 7 February 2011

– Transcript of delivery of Update Paper 2 –

Update Paper 3: Global emissions trends, Australian Agricultural & Resource Economic Society Annual Conference, Melbourne, 11 February 2011

– Transcript of delivery of Update Paper 3 –

Update Paper 4: Transforming rural land use, Brisbane, 1 March 2011

Update Paper 5: The science of climate change, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 10 March 2011

– Transcript of delivery of Update Paper 5 –

Update Paper 6: Carbon pricing and reducing Australia’s emissions, National Press Club, Canbera, 17 March 2011

Update Paper 7: Low emissions technology and the innovation challenge, Sydney, 23 March 2011

Update Paper 8: Transforming the electricity sector, Melbourne, 29 March 2011

– Transcript of delivery of Update Paper 8 –

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The Garnaut Climate Change Review

The Garnaut Climate Change Review was a study by Professor Ross Garnaut, commissioned by the Opposition Leader at the time, Kevin Rudd, and by the Australian State and Territory Governments on 30 April 2007. After his election on 24 November 2007, Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd has confirmed the participation of the Commonwealth Government in the Review.

The Review examined the impacts of climate change on the Australian economy, and recommended medium to long-term policies and policy frameworks to improve the prospects for sustainable prosperity. A number of forums were held around Australia to engage the public on various issues relating to the Review. The Secretariat to support the Review was based in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet. The interim report of the Garnaut Review was released on 21 February 2008 and the draft report of the Garnaut Review was released on 04 July 2008. The final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review was delivered on 30 September 2008.

The Final Report recommended that it was in Australia’s national interest to seek an international agreement for holding carbon dioxide equivalent concentrations at 450 parts per million (ppm) or lower, with Australia offering in advance to play its full proportionate part in such an agreement. He further recommended that, should all negotiations collapse at the Copenhagen summit, Australia should still reduce its emissions by 5% by 2020 on 2000 levels.

The Review recommended that an Emissions Trading Scheme, with emissions permits being allocated by auction, should be the centrepiece of Australia’s policies to implement emissions reductions targets. The Emissions Trading Scheme should be supported by major public funding for innovation in low emissions technologies, funded from the permit auction revenues. The Final Report proposed a principled formula for assistance to trade-exposed, emissions-intensive industries, within which assistance would be phased out automatically as other countries introduced emissions pricing.

Professor Garnaut said that the overall cost to the Australian economy of tackling climate change under both the 450ppm and 550ppm scenarios was manageable and in the order of 0.1-0.2 per cent of annual economic growth to 2020.

The Garnaut Climate Change Review estimated mitigation costs for 450ppm at almost a percentage point more than 550pmm mitigation of the present value of Gross National Product through the 21st century. The report stated that stronger mitigation is justified by insurance value and non-market value benefits in the 21st century and much larger benefits beyond, and that the costs of action are less than the costs of inaction.

All papers (including transcripts of Garnaut Climate Change Review public events and the entire Final Report) produced as part of the Garnaut Climate Change Review are available online at: www.garnautreview.org.au.

Download the Garnaut Climate Change Review in PDF format:

Terms of Reference

Introduction

Chapter 1: A decision making framework

Chapter 2: Understanding climate science

Chapter 3: Emissions in the Platinum Age

Chapter 4: Projecting global climate change

Chapter 5: Projecting Australian climate change

Chapter 6: Climate change impacts on Australia

Chapter 7: Australia’s emissions in a global context

Chapter 8: Assessing the international response

Chapter 9: Towards global agreement

Chapter 10: Deepening global collaboration

Chapter 11: Costing climate change and its avoidance

Chapter 12: Targets and trajectories

Chapter 13: An Australian policy framework

Chapter 14: An Australian emissions trading scheme

Chapter 15: Adaptation and mitigation measures for Australia

Chapter 16: Sharing the burden in Australia

Chapter 17: Information barriers to known technologies

Chapter 18: The innovation challenge

Chapter 19: Network infrastructure

Chapter 20: Transforming energy

Chapter 21: Transforming transport

Chapter 22: Transforming rural land use

Chapter 23: Towards a low-emissions economy

Chapter 24: Fateful decisions

Corrigenda 14 October 2008

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Climate Change Related Lectures, Articles and Speeches:

Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Clean Energy Future Legislation, Melbourne, 27 September 2011

The Limits to Adaptation to Climate Change, Keynote address to the Four Degrees or More? 2011 Conference Australia in a Hot World, Melbourne, 13 July 2011

Statement on the Climate Change Policy Package released by the Australian Government, 10 July 2011

The Garnaut Climate Change Review Update 2011, address to the Greenhouse 2011: The Science of Climate Change Conference, Cairns, 5 April 2011

The Garnaut Climate Change Review Update 2011, address to the Environment and Economics 2011: Australia’s Climate Policy Options Conference, Australian National University, Canberra, 31 March 2011

Economics, Climate Change and Biodiversity, address to the Ecological Society of Australia ESA10: 2010 Conference, Sustaining Biodiversity: The Next 50 Years, Canberra, 7 December 2010

Growth, Cycles, Climate and Structural Change: Two Hard Decades Ahead, address to the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering’s Australia 2030 Conference, Sydney, 11 November 2010

What if Mainstream Science is Right? The Rout of Knowledge and Analysis in Australian Climate Change Policy (and a Chance of Recovery?), 2010 Cunningham Lecture, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Canberra, 9 November 2010

Link to video recording of the 2010 Cunningham Lecture, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Canberra, 9 November 2010

New International Context of Climate Change Policy – Address to the Asia Climate Change Policy Forum 2010, The Australian National University, 27 October 2010

Link to video recording of Continuity and Change on Climate Policy, Closing Plenary Address at the Carbon Expo Australasia 2010 Conference, Melbourne, 13 October 2010

Climate Change, China Booms and Australia’s Governance Struggle in a Changing World – The 2010 Hamer Oration, The University of Melbourne, 5 August 2010, Melbourne

Innovation and Climate Change Mitigation After a Delayed Start -Presentation at Carbon Capture and Storage Under the Spotlight, C02CRC Public Lecture, The University of Melbourne, 22 July 2010

China as a Great Power: Some Implications for Australia – Address to Australia China Business Council (Victoria Division) Melbourne, 13 May 2010 (See pages 8-10 for reference to recent discussion of China’s climate change policy)

Link to video and audio of Transforming Data into Policy: What can we learn from climate change policy making in Australia so far? Forum at University of Melbourne 30 March 2010. This forum looked at how well our public policy making processes have served Australia’s national interests in developing its response to climate change, including the development of support policies for trade exposed industries and for new technologies. It also considered how well we have used and communicated quantitative data to help guide and inform the policy debate. Forum moderator: Michael Gawenda. Other panelists included: The Hon Greg Combet AM, MP (Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change), Paul Kelly (Editor-at-large of The Australian), Rod Sims (Director, Port Jackson Partners Limited)

Climate Change and the Energy Sector – Energy Futures Seminar: The Future of Carbon Trading in Australia, Energy Research Institute, Melbourne 17 February 2010

Global Warming After The Obama Accord – Keynote Address to the Annual Conference of Supreme and Federal Court Judges – Canberra 25 January 2010

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald Opinion piece on COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen – 22 December 2009

International Agreement on Climate Change Mitigation After The Great Crash of 2008 – Seventh Annual Whitman Lecture, Peterson Institute for International Economics – Washington DC 1 December 2009

Climate Change: The Public Interest and Private Interests in Australian Policy – 2009 Annual Hawke Lecture – Adelaide 4 November 2009

Climate Change from the Perspective of the Torres Strait 2009 Mabo Lecture – Townsville 7 October 2009

Video recording of the 2009 Mabo Lecture – Townsville 7 October 2009

The Policy Framework for Transition to a Low Carbon World Economy – Tokyo 3 October 2009

Lateline Transcript: China Discusses China’s Take on Climate Change – 28 September 2009

China and the Transition to a Low-Carbon National Economy – Beijing 25 September 2009

One Year After the Garnaut Climate Change Review:

Essay – ANU 14 September 2009