Can Australia Become A Clean Tech Superpower? Deep Dive Australia 05: Ross Garnaut

Across huge swathes of the global economy, clean solutions are already cheaper than their fossil alternatives, and so a carbon price isn’t needed. But in other sections of the economy, the costs of green tech are higher, and so carbon pricing will be needed to make them cost competitive. But what should that price be, and how can it be successfully implemented?

This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich is joined by Professor Ross Garnaut, a towering figure in the debate about how to implement carbon pricing, and founder of the Superpower Institute. Having advised successive Australian governments on climate policy since 2007, Ross makes the case for how Australia can export green iron, ammonia, and carbon-based fuels to industrialised economies that don't have the land or renewable resources to decarbonise on their own.

They discuss the political history behind Australia's stop-start carbon pricing, the debate over whether green hydrogen can ever get cheap enough to make the superpower vision work, and how First Nations communities are shaping decisions about the land at the centre of it. They also explore the tension between protectionism and genuine security concerns over Chinese supply chains, and whether China's undervalued currency is really what's holding back Australia's competitiveness.

Topics covered in this episode:

Australian climate policy under different Prime Ministers

Australia as a low-carbon superpower

Exporting molecules vs exporting electricity

First Nations involvement in land use

The green hydrogen cost debate

Protectionism vs. security concerns

Pinning down an actual carbon price

Trade imbalances and exchange rates