At the same time, polluting fossil fuel corporations driving these disasters are profiting from their suffering.

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A fire has been lit beneath our feet, yet we’ve spent decades convincing ourselves it was a source of warmth instead of reaching for the fire extinguisher. We must activate all climate solutions readily available to us and pave the way for those almost within reach.

We can’t waste more time and let another summer go by without scaling up action. This includes ending public subsidies for fossil fuels and making sure fossil fuel companies do their fair share to drastically slash emissions. It means developing a comprehensive climate and energy investment plan. And it means plugging in 100 per cent renewables by 2030.

That target may sound highly ambitious, but the federal government already has a target of boosting renewables to 82 per cent of electricity supply by the end of this decade.

Reaching a fully renewable energy supply by 2030 would cut Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions in half relative to the government’s existing goals, with significant benefits for air quality and our health. It may come as a surprise that air pollution in Australia is responsible – every year – for more deaths than the national road toll. This is a national emergency, even without climate change considerations.

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Meeting this target is absolutely possible. In fact, some of Australia’s states and territories are well on the way.

Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory were the first in Australia to generate power from 100 per cent renewables. Tasmania has gone above and beyond, aiming to double its renewable energy production and reach 200 per cent of its current electricity needs by 2040.

South Australia has a goal to reach 100 per cent renewables by 2030. It has made a promising start, achieving a world-first run of more than 10 consecutive days last month when renewables averaged 100 per cent of local demand. It also ran on 100 per cent renewable power almost every day throughout October. And the state hit another milestone in 2021, when its solar and wind farms and rooftop solar systems supplied an average of just over 100 per cent of local demand every day for almost a week.

Victoria’s ambitions are also climbing. It is preparing to legislate a 95 per cent renewable energy target by 2035, one of the most ambitious goals in the world, and signalling “the end of coal”.

At the COP27 global climate summit last year, the federal government told the world “Australia is back” on climate.

But in 2021/2022, the Australian government allowed $11.6 billion in subsidies for fossil fuels, a figure more than 50 times the yearly budget of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency set up to support communities affected by climate disasters. That $11.6 billion could instead fund the installation of free rooftop solar for 1.5 million low-income households or replace all diesel buses with electric ones in most of the eastern states.

If we want to fix a problem, we can’t afford to keep adding to it. If you’re in a hole, stop digging.

This means no new or expanded fossil fuel projects and an end to subsidies. By making fossil fuel companies pay their fair share of income tax, Australia could also invest in significant projects to fast-track us to zero emissions.

What we do today will define our tomorrow. Our window of opportunity to avoid even more dangerous climate change is rapidly closing. It’s time to aim high and go fast.

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