Australia’s critical window of opportunity to tackle climate change is closing, with a new landmark report from the Climate Council revealing our nation is falling behind the rest of the world, failing to tackle climate change as pollution levels continue to rise.

States and territories are the driving force behind Australia’s transition to clean, affordable and efficient renewable energy and storage technology, a new report has found.

Storing carbon in land is no substitute for reducing fossil fuel emissions. The report finds that while increasing carbon in land systems is important, Australia is muddying the waters by combining land carbon and fossil fuel reduction policies – which is giving an inaccurate picture of Australia’s progress in tackling climate change.

In July this year, South Australia experienced a series of high wholesale electricity price spikes in one week, which some politicians and media commentators simplistically linked to the state’s high proportion of renewable energy, particularly wind (For example, Australian Financial Review 2016; The Advertiser 2016a; The Australian 2016).

The Climate Council says systemic disadvantages in rural and regional communities will get worse. A new report - ‘On the Frontline: Climate Change & Rural Communities’ - says the increase in extreme weather events is disproportionately affecting people in rural areas already, with serious social, health and economic impacts to continue.

The Renewable Energy: Future Jobs and Growth report finds that 50% renewable electricity by 2030 will create almost 50% more employment than our business as usual trajectory.

More needs to be done to prepare Australia’s health and community sectors to cope with the pressures from more frequent and severe heatwaves, a new report has found.

Climate change is making droughts worse, a Climate Council report claims. The Thirsty Country: Climate Change and Drought in Australia report found climate change was driving an increase in the intensity and frequency of extremely hot days, which was prompting an increase in the severity of droughts.

Australia is lagging behind the world's major economies when it comes to renewable energy generation despite having enough renewable energy resources to power the country 500 times over.