Coal royalties are a tiny part of NSW Government revenue. Over the last decade, they have averaged only 2.4% of NSW Government revenue. Coal royalties do little to fund regional communities, schools, hospitals, teachers, and nurses.

The organisations charged with overseeing regional transition away from coal mining in NSW have a budget of $5.2 million across four organisations. By contrast, $27 million of public money was spent in 2022-23 by Coal Innovation NSW conducting and promoting research that greenwashes the coal industry, while a publicly subsidised coal industry research fund worth

Extreme heat is the number one cause of weather-related illness and death in all parts of Australia, except Tasmania. Older, poorer, and sicker people are more vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat. This report identifies the locations around Australia in which the greatest number of vulnerable people will be affected by extreme heat. Targeting these areas for support will ensure the greatest number of vulnerable people are helped during periods of extreme heat.

The Australia Institute’s annual Climate of the Nation report provides an insight into Australians’ understanding of, and attitudes towards, climate change and Australia’s current and proposed climate policies. Climate of the Nation 2024 shows that Australians are not only concerned about the climate crisis, they feel negative about the future in the context of climate

Most Australians grow food, or are interested in doing so. Younger people are most likely to express interest in growing, but often lack the space or skills required. This demonstrates the need for gardening programs and investment in community gardens.

For NSW to meet its emissions reduction targets it will need a broader range of policies to encourage the uptake of EVs. New policies should help reduce the upfront cost of EVs, encourage the purchase of EVs as fleet vehicles, and require anyone who sells an EV to provide a ‘state-of-health’ report on the car’s

Hydrogen fuel cell buses are expensive, require more infrastructure, and do not deliver real-world reductions in emissions. Electrifying Australia’s buses should be a priority for state governments for air quality and climate reasons.

Around the world, climate change is increasing the costs of insurance and Australia is no exception.

Emissions from the transport sector are growing, which means it is set to be the largest contributor to Australian emissions by 2030. Ambitious policy change is urgently needed in this area. Under current government policy, transport sector emissions will remain above the 2005 baseline through to 2030.

If Western Australia was a country, it would be the world’s third largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Yet, despite the huge amounts of gas produced in WA annually, recent media reports claim the state is heading for a gas shortage. How can WA be running short of gas when it is a globally

The Future Gas Strategy, published in May 2024, sets out the Albanese Government’s plan for gas production and consumption in Australia between now and 2050.

According to the Australian Government’s Future Gas Strategy, gas is “critical” to the nation’s economy. In view of this, many Australians might be surprised to learn that a large amount of the country’s gas reserves are essentially being given away for free.

Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension has not identified sufficient gas supply for its export capacity. This is already resulting in applications to divert domestic gas to the export terminal. This will permanently destabilise WA’s domestic gas market.

Even though the transport sector is the third largest source of Australian emissions and accounted for 21% of national emissions in 2023, the Australian Government continues to incentivise the sale of big utility vehicles (utes) relative to other car options. Over the last twenty years, the number of utes on our roads has grown much

The Australian Government claims that green hydrogen is part of its vision for becoming a renewable energy ‘superpower’, but budget documents show this is not the case. Current industrial hydrogen use in Australia is 500,000 tonnes per year. The Commonwealth Government is budgeting for green hydrogen production of around 500,000 tonnes per year into the

In 2019, the Australia Institute published Canberra: Laboratory of democracy, which described innovative, politically controversial policies from the Australian Capital Territory that were popular across the country.

The existing NSW Koala Strategy fails to recognise or address the immediate and systemic impacts of logging, fossil fuel production and climate change on koala populations.

Despite being named the “Net Zero Economy Authority” (NZEA), the proposed NZEA has no plan, no powers and no budget to deliver a “Net Zero Economy”.

The Australia Institute made a submission to the NSW Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Housing on the proposal to convert the defunct Redbank coal-fired power station to run on woodchips and other biomass. Redbank is located in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

Offshore gas must not bypass genuine consultation with traditional owners or the wider community. Adequate consultation will always challenge the crumbling social license of fossil fuel operations – perhaps that is why there are proposals to “clarify and improve” consultation and approvals?

Public road and rail projects worth $7 billion have been sidelined due to Australia’s ‘clogged’ infrastructure pipeline. Meanwhile, the coal and gas industries have committed to $41 billion worth of new fossil fuel projects with similar construction and engineering inputs. Fossil fuel expansion will crowd out both road and rail projects and drive up the cost of the approximately $58 billion in renewable energy infrastructure projects also planned by the Federal Government.

An overwhelming majority (85%) of Australians support better conditions for volunteer firefighters through an Army Reserve style model in the face of longer and more ferocious bushfire seasons.

There is no evidence that self-regulation and/or voluntary environmental certification schemes result in better outcomes for the environment or consumers. In fact, the opposite is often true, with these initiatives facilitating misleading claims by the private sector.

The impacts of climate change on young people and future generations are enormous, approaching unfathomable.

The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,535 Australians about their concerns regarding the impacts on human health from fossil fuel projects.

Despite the claims to the contrary by the Northern Territory government, development of the Beetaloo Basin’s gas resources will be of little benefit to Territorians. Modelling used by the NT government itself shows that the development of the Beetaloo Basin will not diversify the NT economy, aid the transition to net zero emissions, provide cheap

Gas development has few economic benefits beyond those that flow to the gas industry itself. The industry is a small employer, systematic non-payer of tax and crowds out other industries.

The Bill is unlikely to facilitate actions that would result in genuine emissions reductions in NSW, including elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, a moratorium on coal and gas development and decarbonisation of industry and transport. While the goals of the Bill are laudable, fiscal responsibility is a subjective guiding principle and open to creative interpretation

The delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must be integrated into national and subnational planning if there is to be any chance of success at a global level. Tasmania’s forthcoming Sustainability Strategy provides an opportunity to identify sustainability issues in Tasmania and develop a roadmap to address them. Achieving the SDGs at a state level requires ambition from all sectors, but it hinges on a strong commitment from the Tasmanian government to take strong action to address sustainability issues.

Avoiding the worst impacts of climate change demands urgent action. This urgency ought to be driven by fulsome and transparent information. Current economic modelling by the CCA could be an important contribution to this task, if done properly and shared with all.