Australia has a new Deputy Prime Minister, with Barnaby Joyce now controlling the Nationals Party. Joyce has previously been at the forefront of controversy and has been known for his lack of recognition of climate change. So what does this move represent for Australia’s climate policy and targets?

A bad move for Australia’s climate change policy

Australia is increasingly divided and isolated on its climate policies and targets. The rest of the world is moving towards reducing its carbon footprint, well before 2050. With the UK recently moving towards 78% carbon reduction by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.

After the G7 summit, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison was inching closer towards 2050 targets. The Nationals party didn’t like this, and now Barnaby Joyce is reappearing in the Deputy Prime Ministers seat.

As the global climate conference in November looms closer, Australia is expected to step up its ambitions in a constructive way. Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Joyce is not the right person for the role.

“Australia is going to be expected to play a constructive and important role there. But those, like Barnaby Joyce, who don’t even believe in the science on climate change. He doesn’t think its a problem. He doesn’t think Australia needs to transition from fossil fuels. It puts Australia at stark odds to our closest allies… It leaves us out in the cold… this is going to be embarrassing.” 

“It makes Australia a laughing stock on the world stage”

“It’s bad for the climate, its bad for gender equality, its bad for Australian women.” 

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

"This is going to be embarrassing…it makes Australia a laughing stock"

Senator @sarahinthesen8 says @Barnaby_Joyce as Deputy PM is "bad for the environment, gender equality, and terrible for women" #climatechange #climateaction #climate #globalwarming pic.twitter.com/RqlcFzIgnc

— ticker NEWS (@tickerNEWSco) June 21, 2021

Day one of Barnaby Joyce as Deputy Prime Minister and already the National Party is voting against water being returned to the Murray in South Australia. pic.twitter.com/pAG5IjNCgJ

— 💚🌏 Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) June 21, 2021

On tickerCLIMATE this week

Scott Hamilton and Holly Stearnes spoke with the director of IEEFA, Tim Buckley. IEEFA is the institute for energy economics and financial analysis and are accelerating the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy.

Buckley says the decision to put Barnaby in this leadership position, is going to cause chaos for Australia.

“The fact that any Australian political leader can talk about climate science denial and can talk about fossil fuel subsidies, is ludicrous in this day and age.”

Tim Buckley, IEEFA

"More energy chaos for Australia" 🚨@TimBuckleyIEEFA disagrees with @Barnaby_Joyce's return to the leader of the Nationals and Deputy PM – stating it will be a poor decision from a #climate point of view. #climatechange #climateaction @SDHamiltonVIC pic.twitter.com/RujlLERqWW

— ticker NEWS (@tickerNEWSco) June 21, 2021

Joyce’s return to this leadership position has sparked major concerns. Energy expert and co-host of Ticker Climate, Scott Hamilton, is baffled by the decision and says it will be a challenge for the Australian Prime Minister.

“Prime Minister Scott Morrison can’t even get bipartisanship within the coalition on climate policy.” 

Scott Hamilton

Australia's Prime Minister continues to struggle to get bipartisanship within the coalition on #climatepolicy. #tickerCLIMATE co-host @SDHamiltonVIC thoughts on #BarnabyJoyce as deputy PM. #Climatechange pic.twitter.com/d8bz0vWxFv

— ticker NEWS (@tickerNEWSco) June 21, 2021

The end of coal

The International Energy Agency roadmap to net zero emissions says the world can afford to have no new unabated coal, oil or gas developments in the world from now on. All major training and military partners are now taking action by subscribing to the Paris agreement. When considering what this means for world coal exports and what the future of coal in Australia looks like, Buckley says there will be no use for coal at all.

“All of our major trading partners have committed to net zero emissions. The writing is on the wall for this industry. We need to talk about solutions. ” 

Tim Buckley, IEEFA

One of Australia’s largest hoped for coal export markets is Vietnam, but even they don’t need Australia’s coal. Vietnam recently installed 9 gigawatts of rooftop solar in one year, that’s three times more than Australia did in ten years. Australia is heavily relying on Vietnam to import its coal, but why would they do that when they can do their own domestic zero emissions solutions at are at a lower cost?

“There is no future for thermal coal at a 20 year view”

Tim Buckley, IEEFA

[International Energy Agency, Net Zero by 2050]

Other climate news this week:

In Australia, the NSW Government will put an end to stamp duty on electric vehicles, to increase uptake. Drivers will also be offered thousands of dollars in other incentives, as part of the $500 million plan.

The extraordinary plan will be revealed this week, with a plan for battery-powered vehicles to account for more than half of all new car sales by 2031.

“We’re charging up the nation to make NSW the Norway of Australia when it comes to electric vehicles.”

Environment Minister, Matt Kean 

New South Wales will soon be the best place to buy and drive an electric vehicle in Australia. 

Our nation-leading Electric Vehicle Strategy will incentivise EV uptake, provide industry with the certainty to invest and make the technology accessible across the community. pic.twitter.com/Btk6tkFet4

— Andrew Constance MP (@AndrewConstance) June 20, 2021

Jaguar Land Rover will develop a new hydrogen-powered prototype of its iconic Defender SUV

The prototype program, known as Project Zeus, is part of JLR’s larger aim to only produce zero-tailpipe emissions vehicles by 2036.

Hydrogen only emits water making it ideal for larger vehicles with longer driving ranges, according to the car-maker.

It follows the company working towards cutting its tail-pipe emissions to zero by 2036.

The venture will be partly funded by the UK Government and will begin testing by the end of this year.

The UK plans to ban car sales that run entirely on combustion engines from 2030.

JLR has also made a commitment to have zero carbon emissions across its supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.

The automaker has also tapped AVL, Delta Motorsport, Marelli Automotive Systems, and the UK Battery Industrialization Center to help develop the prototype.

The testing program is designed to help engineers understand how a hydrogen powertrain can be developed that would meet the performance and capability (like towing and off-roading) standards that Land Rover customers expect.

Climate change was hot on the agenda at last week’s G7 Summit in the United Kingdom.

To dissect the latest on the environment, Kristina Haverkamp from the German Energy Agency joined ticker Climate hosts, Holly Stearnes and Scott Hamilton.

"The results are satisfactory"

As the #G7summit wraps up, Kristina Haverkamp MD of German Energy Agency @dena_news says #G7 leaders have multiple commitments to #climatechange, including #NetZero by 2050! #climateaction | @SDHamiltonVIC pic.twitter.com/57d26N06yp

— ticker NEWS (@tickerNEWSco) June 14, 2021

Ms Haverkamp said the results from last week’s G7 Summit were “satisfactory”.

“Some say that not enough has been decided but I’ve started to see that as a pavlovian response to what’s been decided at the international level,” she explained.

Ms Haverkamp also said her company, dena, has played a fundamental role in Germany’s renewable future. But there is still a lot of work to do.

“The attitude of the German population is ambivalent. We have 80 to 90 percent support in principle… but at the same time there is strong global resistance that is delaying the necessary expansion of our high voltage transmission grids,” she said.

En route to @COP26!@G7 partners are signing off on a landmark joint commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 (latest) & keeping a 1.5°C temperature rise within reach.

We will do everything we can to stick to 1.5 pic.twitter.com/jExPg2WLhQ

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 13, 2021

The G7 leaders – from the United Kingdom, United States, Italy, Germany, France Canada and Japan – have all committed to net zero emissions by 2050. G7 partners also signed a landmark joint agreement at the Summit last week.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen tweeted “we will do everything we can to stick to 1.5 [degrees].”

The G7 Summit comes ahead of the COP26, United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. 

ticker Climate airs Monday 4:15pm AEST, or 2:15am EDT.