Superpower: Australia's Low-Carbon Opportunity

by Ross Garnaut

The fog of Australian politics on climate change has obscured a fateful reality: Australia has the potential to be an economic superpower of the future post-carbon world.

We have unparalleled renewable energy resources. We also have the necessary scientific skills. Australia could be the natural home for an increasing proportion of global industry. But how do we make this happen?

In this crisp, compelling book, Australia’s leading thinker about climate and energy policy offers a road map for progress, covering energy, transport, agriculture, the international scene and more. Rich in ideas and practical optimism, Superpower is a crucial, timely contribution to this country’s future.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Economics, Politics, Climate Change, Australia, History

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2019

About the author

Ross Garnaut is Professorial Research Fellow in Economics at the University of Melbourne. In 2008, he produced the Garnaut Climate Change Review for the Australian government. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling Dog Days (2013).

Reviews

[John Sheahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a revolutionary book.
Ross Garnaut was commissioned by the (Australian) state governments and the Federal Opposition in 2007 to review and report on the climate change challenges facing Australia. He delivered it in 2008 and reviewed it in 2011. This book is based on a series of lectures in 2019 delivered at University of Melbourne.
This man has been looking at the challenges of climate change and transitioning economies in the face of it for years, intensely, and working at a national policy level. And he is still optimistic that we can rise to the occasion and save future Australians from the worst effects of climate change. It means being involved in the global effort, seriously. It will require visionary leadership and courage at all levels of society. He sees massive opportunities for rural and regional Australians into the future in a zero-emissions world.
The alternative, which he spends little time over, is catastrophic disruption economically, environmentally, socially, with national security imperilled.
Garnaut comes to the subject as a person who gives weight to the science of climate change and who sees opportunities if change is implemented soon enough. It is more than a matter of sheer survival: he sees the possibility of Australia becoming a global leader with a de-carboinised economy, and prospering.
Some parts of this book bored me to tears - I am no economist - but he writes in such a way that I could follow his reasoning and his narration of the historical circumstances all the same. Quite an achievement, really.
I wish everyone with an interest in this subject would read this book. I don't know enough to see the holes in his arguments if there are any, so I look forward to the public discussion.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to every Australian bummed out by the current state of renewable energy.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly difficult and dense for the non-economist. But push through - the true gift of this book is hope that Australia can address and even thrive from addressing climate change.

This book took a while to finish. While absolutely vital, it can be dense and verbose...perhaps, one might suggest unkindly, like a lot of economic analysis.

But I'm glad I pushed through. The strength of this book is its analysis. It is well reasoned, clear, and rewarding to read as the author examines each sector of the economy in detail, sketching a vision of that sector carbon free.

Past the early Chapters, and the non-economist is rewarded - chapters 4-7 present clear, reasoned approaches to decarbonising the electricity, industrial, transportation and agricultural sectors. Together, they provide a concrete message of hope - that carbon-free can be the future and Australia could even benefit from that future.

The early chapters on economics and moral case are not for the faint hearted - it is dense and at some points felt somewhat repetitious...which may be because I wasn't understanding the subject matter! It did make it difficult to get into the book though.

But the main reason to read this book: it gives hope. Yes the federal government might be full of climate denialists and nihilists committed to destroying Australia's climate change institutional architecture...but, the book argues, that doesn't matter. Because business, the community, and state governments can and are stepping in. I found this quite reassuring.

[Daniel]

A real page-turner, I couldn't put it down!

[Sean Wade-McCue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshingly optimistic view on the economic opportunities in Australia as the world transitions to a balanced carbon economy. A great read for investors, policy makers and anyone more broadly interested in the direction of major industries including energy, minerals and agriculture. Highly recommended!

[Clare Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want everyone to read this, esp Australia's politicians.

"There is a chasm between a world that quickly breaks the link between modern economic growth and carbon emissions, and a world that fails to do so. The side of the chasm we are now on is a dangerous place. It would be reckless beyond the normal human irrationality for us to stay where we are."

At a point somewhere in my reading the very dry economics got to me and I considered DNF. I'm glad I didn't. If you hate economics read the last chapter and you'll get the gist of this very important book.

I almost feel optimistic that we might be able to keep global warming to 1.5°

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense but authoritative. It is definitely not light reading but it's worth it if you're keen to see where Australian industry could go in the next few decades.

[Andrew Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2008 and 2011 Ross Garnaut delivered two important reports on climate and energy policy. Both showed that Australia had to face a serious problem, had to begin addressing it immediately, and would likely face high costs today, but achieve a better world - sans calamatious climate change - in the future. A case of here's some bitter medicine, but the outcome is worth it.

In Superpower, Garnaut argues that things have really changed since his earlier work. Rather than simply doing the right thing because we need to, Garnaut argues that for Australia there is a potentially golden opportunity to benefit and prosper from the change. The heart of his argument is that with massive new energy capacity through renewables in certain key parts of the country, we see a significant change in the economics of key industries. In particular, transforming raw resources into key metals as well as using agriculture to support energy or store carbon.

Now, much more than was anticipated a decade ago, we can be confident that we will be richer materially sooner rather than later, as well as very much richer in human and natural heritage should we embrace a zero-emission future...Australia should have a much stronger comparative advantage in energy-intensive minerals and agricultural processing in a zero-emissions world economy than it had in the fossil-energy past

In many ways Superpower is really a third review by Garnaut, only this version is sold in bookstores instead of as a free PDF download. It seems the book began life as a series of 6 academic lectures (which helps explain some of its structure and tone), and it still reads more like a report than a book. That said, once I'd come to understands the style (and look past the self-references), I rather liked the wonkishness of it.

This book makes a nice compliment to Ketan Joshi's Windfall. Both try and move away from the 'we need to swallow the bitter medicine from our century of sin' language of many climate activists and instead show that for Australia at least, there are huge, material advantages for making the change. Joshi focused on Windfarming and bringing people into the new forms of energy, Garnaut emphasises that all the extra power can help us very cheaply process our mineral wealth, thereby gaining significant income.

It would have been good to see Garnaut push this argument further. What else could all that extra power be used for (such as defence needs against that other looming threat starting with C)? How could it help shift trade and political relations in Asia? What kind of country could we be if we play this new role as an energy super power? The title seems to promise so much, and while it lives up to it in a 'here are some industries that could do very well', It wasn't quite clear the theme had integrated across the entire analysis.

A sensible part of this book is the recognition of politics. Several time Garnaut offers advice to the Morrison government which he notes is consistent with the government's 2019 party platform. While he rightly argues Australia will need to go far beyond what this government is doing - and like Joshi argues that we're only just getting by thanks to all the things everyone *except* the federal government are doing - he doesn't simply try and demand an elected government do an about face on a critical and controversial issue.
This is a welcome given too many climate activists (including some South Pacific leaders) thumb their nose at the notion of democratic constraints on what leaders should do. Which is neither coherent as analysis (since domestic politics does and must matter) or useful for persuasion (the regional mugging in late 2019 just pissed off Morrison and many Australian diplomats). Again, I'm not excusing the government's horrible approach, but if your analysis isn't trying to work within the possible or plausible, you're not really trying to solve the issue you're claiming to care about.

I still feel I don't know much about climate or energy, and this book is but one more effort to try and learn. And perhaps I'm just attracted to the optimistic ones with titles like Windfall and Superpower. But I do know that on many difficult public issues, a good dose of sugar always helps the medicine go down.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great tragedy of early-21st century politics in Australia was the reign of the Coalition government from 2013 to 2022. This decade was a pivotal one in the fight against climate change and its potential was largely (though not totally; I'll touch on that later) squandered due to nothing more than absurdly petty factional politics and, in the cases of Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison, sheer unadulterated gross stupidity. Our leaders were selfish and dumb (I am not one of those cynics, whose numbers seem to have swelled like the belly of a pregnant sow recently, who believes that all politicians are psychopaths; many, clearly, want to improve society; indeed many have been veritable saints). That decade was important because efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change need to be more intense the longer they're delayed--in other words, if Australia had started its renewables transformation one decade ago, the transition would have been much less costly. Instead of working slowly and deliberately over the course of many years to gently prepare our country for a massive economic transformation (because the renewables transition means much more than simply the generation of power by solar, wind, etc; for Australia, at least, it means becoming a globally-competitive manufacturer of products such as green ammonia and silicon and it means processing its vast stores of mineral ores at home; in other words, the renewables revolution will see Australia transform itself once more into a world-class manufacturer; but more on that later), Australia, now under the leadership of the recently elected Labour government, will have to push for society-wide reform in the extremely short timespan of 8 years. This will be unavoidably and, probably, massively disruptive, and it didn't need to be this way.

Thank God, then, for Ross Garnaut.

Garnaut was commissioned by the federal Labour government in 2007 and 2010 to review the impacts climate change will have on the Australian economy and to make policy recommendations that would ensure Australia's longterm prosperity in the face of climate risk. He has spent much of his life since then studying those same things. Nearly 10 years elapsed between the publication of his final Report to the government and the publication of this book, which, because he hasn't posted anything of comparable size or symbolism since, can be considered his definitive thoughts on the matter. And for the reasons mentioned above, few have more learned thoughts about Australian renewable energy economics than Ross Garnaut. It inspires confidence, then, that the best book by perhaps Australia's best thinker about the renewables transition believes that we can safely transition to a low-carbon economy in the timeframe demanded by the current Labour government.

8 years. It sounds crazy. It is crazy. But we can do it.

As one more prolegomena, let is be known that this book is very dense. It isn't easy reading. I legitimately can't remember the last time a book made me strain the old bean with as much force as I strained it for this one. I thought of docking half or one full star from my rating of this book because Garnaut makes absolutely no concessions to the reader. It doesn't explain its jargon and its prose doesn't contrive to be anything except simple, dry, and precise. As such, I remain unsure who this book's target market is: it's designed and looks as though it's aimed at a popular audience but it's written for hardcore economics wonks and people who like reading those big old paperweight phone directories.

But it's precisely this wonkish insistence on facts, rigour, and detail which makes this such a convincing and important book. Garnaut explains in minute detail the pitfalls and promises of many topics. He notes that electrifying everything will raise energy demands; that the increased adoption of electric vehicles will do the same; that people charging their electric vehicles at peak time, i.e., after work, will crash the energy grid in its current form; suggests that EVs be incorporated into the energy grid as batteries; suggests (and this could be automated by a government-supported app) that EVs should supply household energy during times of peak demand and recharged only in off-peak; notes that, because renewable energy sources are intermittent (the sun stops shining, the wind stops blowing, etc.), energy security can only be guaranteed by renewables if multiple forms of renewable energy are utilised; this means that we need to invest in as many renewable energy sources as possible and that we cannot invest in just one; he notes that some forms of renewable energy, such as hydro and geothermal, are geographically constrained (solar farms in deserts, wind farms in oceans and valleys, etc.); notes that transporting renewable energy is much less cost-effective than transporting fossil fuels; notes that, due to Australia's geographical isolation, this means it will be cheaper for Australia to use its own renewable energy; notes that this means Australia will soon have some of the lowest energy prices in the developed world (which it used to have before fossil fuel reserves were privatised and exported from NSW and QLD so that we have, now, some of the most expensive energy prices in the developed world); notes that this means it will become feasible again to pursue energy-intensive manufacturing of things such as mineral ores, silicon, ammonia, green steel, hydrogen, etc., domestically; notes that Indigenous burning techniques can radically increase biomass and carbon sequestration; that the enormous Australian landmass can sequester vast amounts of carbon, amount which are especially large per capita given our small population, and that the credits for these can be sold on international carbon markets; etc.

In sum, the enormous Australian continent is home to a wide variety of landscapes which can provide multiple types of renewable energy, vast stores of biomass for carbon sequestration, is geographically isolated which incentivises domestic use of renewable energy because it's expensive to transport, and world-class human capital in the sciences relevant to the energy transition. We can have secure and extremely cheap renewable energy, and we can have it more easily than virtually any other country in the world.

Let's get after it!

[Jim Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’ll learn more Australia’s tortuous policy path on climate change and our choices from here in this book than you would watching Q and A for a year. Ross Garnaut is unflinching about the challenges we face, for sure, but he also sees enormous opportunity for Australia if we would stop the asinine culture war around climate change and embrace the science. Sadly, Australia’s self-destructive decision to elect the Morrison government has put off that possibility for at least another three years.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, highly readable book of hope for all Australians who feel disappointed and frustrated with the lack of action on rising carbon pollution from federal Labor and Liberal governments since 2008, when the Green blew up Rudd's proposed ETS, the closest we got to a viable market based solution to rising emissions and irreversible climate change.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Australia has the strongest interest among developed countries in the success of a global effort on climate change. Even if we abstract from the effects of climate change itself, we have the most to gain economically. But we are stuck on the side of the chasm with the people who are against effective action”

[Chris Swaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want vision for the future of Australia and the world in the zero carbon economy , you must read this book.

[Emma Storey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An optimistic and readable analysis of Australia's opportunity to transition to a zero carbon economy. It includes useful snippets of political history of how we got into this mess and several well researched policy ideas to get out of it. Good clear explanations for the economically ignorant (me) though I still felt there was some assumed knowledge I was missing. Highly recommend for Australians interested in how to move Australia's emissions reduction action forward.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garnaut argues that the prospects for carbon emissions abatement in Australia have improved dramatically in recent years. This is principally because: 1) The cost of renewable energy technology has declined markedly; and 2) interest rates are very low, meaning that financing capital-intensive renewable energy projects is much easier.

Australia is uniquely placed to benefit economically from the shift to low carbon electricity, as Australia has unparalleled renewable energy resources (eg wind and solar) and the cost of low carbon electricity can be lower in Australia than in almost any other country. Accordingly, energy-intensive industrial processes (such as aluminium smelting and minerals processing) can shift to Australia. Former industrial areas in regional Australia have natural advantages in this regard, with existing transmission networks and industrial workforces. Regional Australia is also uniquely placed to sequester carbon into its soil, creating economic opportunity on otherwise marginal land.

Garnaut proposes short-term policy solutions that are broadly compatible with the current Morrison Government's election commitments, but that will nevertheless advance Australia rapidly down the road towards zero net emissions by 2050. This includes: support for new electricity transmission and electric vehicle charging networks; requiring companies to purchase offsets for fugitive emissions; and the use of snowy hydro to underwrite reliability of supply.

A really important book that makes a convincing case that emissions abatement is compatible with - and will probably drive - economic growth.

[John Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the opportunities afforded to Australia by the global response to climate change. Our renewable and mineral resource endowments, industrial and agricultural knowledge, and proximity to key export markets for energy and processed materials make many of the transitions complimentary to popular goals such as the reinvigoration of regional centres and the Australian manufacturing industry.

For those interested in the politics of Australian carbon and energy policy, Garnaut does a good job of clarifying the rationale and effect of policy decisions. Some passages will warrant rereading several times to override the scrambled logic imprinted by political obfuscation and lazy journalism.

A visionary book, it may have benefited from addressing some potential counterarguments to each of the key recommendations. However, they were well presented and substantiated, and I've no doubt that many of these ideas will be seriously considered and implemented to varying degrees in coming decades.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frustrating to read about the mismanagement of the Murray Darling Basin in chapter 1, as it doesn't look like we'll ever get our act together on that one. But I wonder if our politicians just might be interested in Ross Garnaut's take on the potential economic gains from a zero-emissions future?

Garnaut does fall into popular error in that he thinks that simply removing or reducing grazing stock will restore degraded vegetation (p.152). He would benefit from watching Allan Savory's TED talk.

He also thinks it's great that we are eating so much more pork and chicken now, with no mention of the appalling conditions those animals are usually kept in by comparison with cows and sheep which can graze freely (in Australia at least).

Overall this is an interesting perspective on Australia's potential to reduce emissions quickly and to our economic advantage.

[Alexandria Blaelock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book during the pandemic, and before the release of the Black Summer bushfire Royal Commission findings.

And given it does an excellent job of demonstrating we're at the limits of what individuals and forward-thinking businesses can do without government support, as well as what governments can do to save the economy and the environment simultaneously... Well, it seemed like a time ripe with the potential of overturning some long-held government policies and getting to work on making the world a better place.

But the government, in an utter failure of imagination, wants everything except Industrial Reform BACK to normal. As if that's possible. So the thing to do is take this information and start getting it out there, and encouraging your local members to do something about it.

[Stephen Torsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a book for an uncommitted layperson, its full of acronyms, economic modelling and Industry-specific detail. I struggled with some of this detail but I knew I had to push on and get as much out of it as my limited knowledge would allow as it is clearly an important book for the future of Australia. Garnaut sets out a clear and compelling path towards a bright future for Australia without slipping into partisanship, he couldn't make it any easier for the current Government to make changes to policy and budget without compromising election promises. This is the story we need to 'sell' to the Australian public, Australia can become a global Super Power due to its unparalleled renewable energy resources and need to take the opportunity before its too late.

[Keith Burrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perhaps the most important book to be published any time lately. It lays out a clear path to dealing with the climate emergency in such a way that even conservatives can hopefully accept. We will not end coal burning by shouting stop Adani etc, we will end it by showing that renewable energy is not only better for the planet's future, but better for Australia's (and the world's) economy.
Garnaut shows that we can move rapidly to solar, wind and storage (battery + pumped hydro). The impediments are not technology or economics, they are simply backward looking politics.

[Josh Noore · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the Coalitions recent fraudulent nuclear policy announcement I was keen to get a more detailed understanding of Australia’s renewable opportunity - a sector I’d heard we had potential to be a world leader in the future zero emissions world.

I won’t lie - Garnaut’s book is complex and reads more like a university lecture for experts vs the common man and many concepts went over my head this the rating. However there were a couple of key takeaways.

Australia has a unique opportunity to be a renewable energy superpower due to our natural endowments - wind, solar, hydrogen, biomass and forests/land for carbon sequestration.

By shifting to renewables many new jobs and manufacturing industries e.g aluminium/mineral processing will be created and the majority of these in rural towns close to the traditional coal mining hubs in places like the La Trobe Valley, the Hunter and Gladstone. This instantly dispelled the common myth that a shift to renewables will cost rural jobs - Garnauts analysis indicates quite the opposite. The economic advantages for rural Australia far outweigh the metro regions.

Secondly - shifting to renewables (which are already 40% of the grid) will lead to a significant decrease in energy costs for Australians. Since Tony Abbott decided to make climate change a political tool for his own personal ambition to oust Turnbull as coalition leader the argument put forward is renewables makes energy more expensive. Garnaut clearly illustrates this is a falsehood. Energy prices especially in gas where we are the world leading exporter, have risen rapidly in recent years as we’ve allowed it to be exported by foreign multinationals and then had to buy it back from them at global market prices.

Our proximity to South East Asia who have huge energy requirements but very little of the per capita resources provides us with a massive opportunity to be a source of Asias clean energy.

Garnaut outlines that Australia has dithered badly over the last decade and the climate wars have pushed us backward. But we still have the opportunity to become a world leader in this space, seize the benefits and fulfill our Paris agreement emissions obligations and ensure Australia remains a beautiful place for future generations.

The Coalitions recent rejection of renewables for their own political gain is pretty sickening and the media compliance and stupidity also a concern.

[Stanley Xue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very compelling vision. Lots of policy juice and economic discussion.
Great marketing pitch that Australia - endowed with significant advantages in renewable energy generation - could become an energy and industrial "superpower". These changes in the electricity makeup will have massive flow-on benefits for industry and transport.
Given changes that are already occuring globally and our potential advantages in renewable energy generation, Australia may find itself in a position where it can revitalise local industries that require high energy inputs (e.g. processing of aluminium, iron ores, and other important minerals in 21st century).
We can conduct carbon capture and storage, given our large area of semiarid land, which may become more economically competitive for carbon capture and storage rather than low economic output grazing.
Australia can become a source of carbon credit exports and production of hydrogen, ammonia, and biomass hydrocarbons.
Another thing of note was the very unfortunate recollection that Abbott's climate policy - getting rid of the carbon tax (and planned integration into the EU emissions trading system) - has set us back for more than a decade.
But Garnaut discusses a multitude of policy tools that can support significant emissions reductions AND generate massive economic benefit for Australians - whilst bridging the way to a future where adoption of a broad-based carbon tax and international carbon/emissions trading system (hopefully) becomes a bipartisan issue. Garnaut argues that we'll need more investment in long-distance high-voltage transmission lines to deliver electricity from renewable energy hubs. Increase our incentives for encouraging electricity system stability. Increasing our incentives for investment into carbon capture technology.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Australia can become a Renewable Energy Superpower, Garnaut posits, as long as the right decisions are made and they are made more quickly. Before entering the details, Garnaut provides an overview of the economics of climate and energy, as well a history of climate and energy policy in Australia. Hereafter Garnaut considers three main areas for growth: electrification, industry and agriculture.

Energy and climate policy is technical field. It is at the intersection of economics, science and political economy. Garnaut makes the concepts much more palatable but does not remove the detail and technicalities to the extent the information is meaningless.

The tone of the book is a welcomed change from the doom and gloom of both social media and mainstream media. Garnaut acknowledges the challenges and difficulties that lay ahead. Yet, he does so in a way that allows him to be, as Mark Beeson of The Intepreter,"credibly optimistic about Australia’s prospects".

This is particularly evidence around the Coalition polemic of the carbon price. The price did not have a significant impact on the price of electricity. Carbon prices only affected wholesale component. Although it would have affected it, it did not decrease after repair. Instead, the higher prices post 2006 can be attributed to (1) lack of competition, (2) Gladstone going overseas and (3) energy grid reconstruction in 2006. Nonetheless, Garnaut does not consider a carbon price as necessary, heightening the hope of climate policy in Australia.

One of the only drawbacks of the book, is his discussion on agriculture. The chapter canvasses an array of opportunities in this sphere. Yet, unlike the other chapters, they are not as forensically discussed. Garnaut does acknowledge that this is not his speciality and he has had to rely on others for this section.

[Nicholas D'Alonzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superpower is a sober look at the economics of climate change in Australia. Unfortunately, this means it also often comes across as an economics lecture or a textbook. The book is a very interesting look at how Australia could lead the world in climate action with the right set of government incentives and regulations. However, it lacks the spark or pizazz that is going to attract anyone that isn’t already a policy wonk. The information in the book suffers from its time of writing, before the most consequential event so far in the twenty-first century, the COVID pandemic, although Ross has a different book on that subject. I also disagree with some of the premises he puts forward as I am politically to the left of him. Most notably even in 2019 it was clear that carbon capture and storage was not working and is a waste of money. There is also our political disagreement that countries are only responsible for the emissions from within their borders and not the fossil fuel products it sells. Ultimately this leaves it a book with a very narrow audience, Labor Party policy wonks. It does feel like a book too much of its time, in the aftermath of the Morrison surprise 2019 election win. However, Ganaut continues his history of clear-eyed predictions, predicting that a government that ignores climate change the way the Morrison Government did, was doomed to election defeat and the rise of climate-minded independents to challenge them.

[Joel Blacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling piece of work, highlighting Australia's competitive advantage and significant opportunity in tomorrow's zero carbon global economy. The book equally explains how this opportunity can be seized when we can collectively overcome the current shroud of archaic and harmful politics.

Whilst economics and politics can be a dry topic, this book is well structured and does well to remain somewhat succinct.

I would only query the discussion surrounding use of biomass and Australia's advantage in that regard. Whilst I am sure it can be done in an environmentally sound manner. Our native forests are currently being plundered for much poorer outputs, and I would be concerned that they might continue to be decimated under the "eco-friendly" guise of biomass. Nonetheless I imagine that challenge could also be solved with sound policy such as an independent regulator.

I would encourage environmentalists engaging our political representatives, particularly those especially concerned with economics, to read this book and become more informed!

[Rachel White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a positive contribution to the public debate about the direction of energy policy in Australia. Garnaut makes some valid arguments for why positioning Australia to be a renewable energy superpower is in the national interest. Some chapters in this edited collection were more interesting than others. For example, I valued learning more about the minerals critical for the energy transition. While admittedly from a group of economists, the book's deficit is that it does not sufficiently explore the political economy and societal implications of the energy transition. Perspectives from different sectors (not for profits, social enterprises, business) and people (First Nations, gender) would have been appreciated.

[Nick Lucarelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is disappointing that so articulate a man writes in such a schizophrenic style. Could not get into his train of thought. He does, however, manage to highlight that the drawbacks of not embracing the green new world will set our economy back even more so than it will advance us by embracing it. I did find myself both interested in his ideas - increasing grid interconnectivity, incentivising and supporting on shore manufacturing / processing hubs fuelled by green energy, and various carbon capture / storage programs - and concerned at how little action we've taken, and how much exponentially more we need to take every year we wait to get moving.

[Nicholas Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superpower is a refreshing combination of economics and science which paints opportunities out of acting on climate change. A little optimistic at times and favouring the narrative of Australia is unique but also supports assertions with evidence. Garnaut harks back to the days when CSIRO was world leading and suggests some clear chances to recover this edge. He provides a list of industrial and agricultural opportunities that connect employment and business opportunity with climate change mitigation that should unite readers of political persuasions.

[James Whitmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

At a time when Australia is in the midst of an extraordinary fire season, a result of its driest and hottest year since records began, this book gave me life. It is a calmly stated, and quite technical, guide to fixing Australia’s climate policy impasse. But make no mistake, this book could radically transform Australia’s approach to climate change. Read more on my blog

[Louis Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best works on contemporary Australian politics. Garnaut's commitment to evidence-based public policy was refreshing. Unlike most works that take the severity of climate change seriously, Garnaut's book left me feeling hopeful that change was not only possible, but desirable. Only downside is Garnaut makes no attempt to write accessibly. Superpower contains a lot of policy and science jargon which left me googling every 10 pages.