I spent many years working in the rooms where the future of our planet is negotiated. Discussions mainly focused on ways to reduce the pollution that causes climate change. That work culminated in the Paris Agreement, a hard-fought but indispensable framework for tackling climate change and driving the shift to a global clean economy.
As I arrive in Australia this week, it’s clear that much of the political debate centres on energy security, a so-called “energy crisis” driven by external forces beyond Australia’s control. Let’s refer to the crisis more accurately. It’s a fossil fuel crisis. Every time global oil and gas prices surge, the pain is felt at the bowser, in household bills and across the economy. This reliance on coal, oil and gas remains a serious climate risk, but it is now being exposed as a direct economic burden and a growing national security vulnerability.
This is not the first fossil fuel crisis that the world has faced, but it is the first to happen at a time when climate-safe solutions are available at scale and being deployed to deliver massive cost savings. You need to look no further than the exploding renewables contribution to Australia’s main grid and the huge uptake of home batteries that are slashing power bills for Australian businesses and families.
There are three fundamental phenomena that have now locked in the inevitable shift away from costly and risky fossil fuels.
First, the pure physics are undeniable. Fossil fuels are inherently wasteful. Two-thirds of their energy is lost as heat. Electrotech – technologies like solar panels, battery storage, heat pumps and electric vehicles – represent a leap in efficiency that no policy nor ideology can credibly deny.
Second, the economics have flipped. The world of extraction, where finite resources grow more expensive as they deplete, is being eclipsed by the world of manufacturing. Renewables and storage are the energy technologies of our age. The more we build them, the cheaper they get and with the right processing, their components are all recyclable. Overly cautious – and in some cases cynical – historical forecasts about the pace of solar and wind adoption have been overtaken by a new reality. The curves of uptake are now exponential; consider that it took the world 68 years to reach one terawatt of solar, and just two years to double it.
Third, and most urgently for Australia, is the question of energy security. True energy independence comes from harnessing local renewable resources – not from doubling down on fossil fuels that are finite and priced beyond domestic control. Australia is the sunniest continent in the world and also one of the windiest. No foreign government can interfere with those resources. Clean energy offers something fossil fuels never can: genuine energy independence, price stability and long-term economic resilience.
Australia is already well on its way. More than 4 million households have solar panels. More people are getting home batteries and electric vehicles. And renewables are supplying a rapidly growing share of electricity – around 45 per cent. The question is whether Australia stays the course in the wake of this global fuel crisis – or hesitates and lets an historic opportunity pass it by.
The consequences of delay are no longer distant, nor theoretical. Climate impacts are already affecting Australians through more extreme heat, bushfires and floods – placing almost unmanageable pressure on key infrastructure, insurance coverage and household budgets.
At the same time, the legal and financial landscape is shifting rapidly. An advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice reaffirmed that national governments have a legal obligation to protect the climate. Australia’s own solicitor-general has warned that company directors in the oil and gas business face a potential wave of litigation if they ignore their climate obligations. The era of treating climate action as an inconvenient burden is over, it is now a matter of economic wisdom and the duty to act.
Global capital has priced in this new reality. Investment is flowing toward clean energy at twice the rate of fossil fuels. Countries that fail to keep pace as the price of electrotech continues to fall risk missing out on new job opportunities, drivers of growth and green industrial capability. Many more will face even graver consequences of the world moving too slowly to cut emissions, including Australia’s neighbours in the Pacific, whose survival depends on the world finding its collective will.
The imperative is clear: continued reliance on fossil fuels will leave Australia exposed to higher costs, greater volatility and increasing global scrutiny. The opportunity is equally clear: to become a destination for investment in clean industry, powered by abundant, low-cost renewable energy – and work with partners to accelerate the global shift to a clean economy.
The federal government’s signature “Future Made in Australia” policy platform is a foundational and innovative economic strategy. It is designed to capture investment, build new industries and ensure Australia remains competitive in a world that is moving decisively toward clean energy. The goal now is to remove the barriers that hinder this global momentum: regulatory bottlenecks, fossil fuel subsidies, grid investment shortfalls, and the political noise that distracts from the scale of the opportunity ahead.
Australia stands at a crossroads. It can cling to a decaying, expensive system characterised by volatility and external dependence, or it can lean into its natural advantages and build a more secure, competitive and prosperous future. A future made in – and with – Australia.
Christiana Figueres is a climate change expert and co-author of the recently published book, The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.
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Christiana Figueres was the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (2010 to 2016) and oversaw the delivery of the Paris Agreement. She is the co-founder of Global Optimism and the co-author of The Future We Choose.