Australia’s Net Zero Transportation Planning and Policies

Forkan Ali

The impacts of climate change are the risks irreversible. Both the 2019 Australian Bushfire and Covid-19 have made the solid ground for positive collective action on climate change including mass adoption mandated of electric vehicles (EVs) across Australia (PWC 2022).[1] Australia’s whole-of-economy Long-Term Emissions Reduction Plan is a strategic plan for reaching the Net Zero emissions target by 2050 through a pragmatic and responsible way, exploring new economic opportunities. The Technology Investment Roadmap becomes a major pathway for this plan that prioritises technology-driven policy implementation to help Australia reduce emissions with the creation of new jobs and a growing economy (Australian Government 2022).[2]  Transitioning to net zero is a part of this Long-Term Plan which is not a small task for Australia. The pathway to the implementation of the plan involves the transformation of GHGs reduction processes including fuel use, stationary energy production, and passenger transport which all together have been responsible for 80% of Australia’s accountable emissions in 2020 (CSIRO 2022).[3]

[1] PWC (2022). Australia’s road to zero transport emissions. https://www.pwc.com.au/government/Australias-road-to-zero-transport-emissions_1.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2022. 

[2] Australian Government (2022). Australia’s Long-Term Emissions Reduction Plan. Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/australias-long-term-emissions-reduction-plan#:~:text=Australia's%20whole%2Dof%2Deconomy%20Long,to%20serve%20our%20traditional%20markets. Accessed on 30 Nov 2022.

[3] CSIRO (2022). Towards Net Zero. https://www.csiro.au/en/about/challenges-missions/towards-net-zero. Accessed 30 Nov 2022.