Electricity switch

SO MUCH of what we read and hear about climate change is bad news. Recent days brought a welcome update on how far we have come as a global community in starting to address this epoch-defining problem.

In a market analysis last week, the Paris-based International Energy Agency found across the globe there is now more renewable energy capacity installed than coal. This is an extraordinary shift, hastened by a dramatic fall in the cost of clean electricity. In five years, the price of wind energy has decreased by about a third and solar by two-thirds.

Coal and other fossil fuels continue to be the largest source of power and the shift to emissions-free technology is still much slower than necessary, but agency executive director Fatih Birol was right to describe the change under way as nothing short of a transformation of global electricity markets.

Despite this, the story in Australia is not as positive as elsewhere. The scale of the problem the country faces was described in detail last week by Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox in a speech to the Re-powering NSW conference. While some media coverage has focused on Mr Willox’s concern about state renewable energy targets in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland that are out of step with the national goal, in truth his speech was much broader in scope.

We agree with the growing call from leaders across business, labour, welfare, science and the environmental movement that policy stability is key. The question Australia faces is not whether to embrace clean energy, but how to make sure it works across a vast but lightly populated continent.