Power, Prosperity & Planet

After nearly two decades of “the climate wars”, arguments for climate action focus on power (we must decarbonise our energy system), prosperity (we must develop our green industries and clean tech) and planet (we must do more to keep global temperature increases within safe limits). But rarely are these arguments framed in terms of the impact on ordinary Australians. How will the transition to renewables keep electricity prices low for households? Given our continued reliance on fossil fuel exports, can Australia avoid falling off an economic cliff in the coming decades, compromising quality of life? What will it cost our nation if large swathes of the country are at risk of climate-related disaster?

In this clear-sighted volume, Woodroofe argues that Australia needs to elevate climate change to our top foreign and economic policy priority. And we need to speak about it in a way that makes sense from the Cabinet Room to every lounge room across the mortgage belts and beyond. Because the ingredients that made us the lucky country – reliable power, economic prosperity and the beauty of our part of the planet, are at risk.