The Superpower Transformation: Building Australia's Zero-Carbon Future

by Ross Garnaut (editor)

In his bestselling Superpower, renowned economist Ross Garnaut showed that Australia – rich in resources for renewable energy and for capturing carbon in the landscape – could become an economic superpower of the post-carbon world. Now, in The Superpower Transformation, he turns that idea into a practical plan to reshape our nation.

Garnaut outlines new evidence that stronger and earlier action on climate change would be good for jobs and incomes, including in the old gas and coal communities and in rural and regional Australia. He looks at the challenges for the next federal how Australia can meet the objectives set at the Paris and Glasgow climate conferences – and the growing costs of not doing so. He shows that our national decisions matter greatly for the world.

With contributions from Mike Sandiford, Ligang Song, Frank Jotzo, Isabelle Grant, Susannah Powell and Malte Meinhausen, The Superpower Transformation covers electricity, hydrogen, steel, exports, carbon capture in the landscape and more. It reveals the rich endowments of five resources that give us the most to gain “The new opportunities are much larger than the old.”

Over the past nine years, Australia has consistently acted against its national interest. This compelling collection of essays shows how to change that, so that the nation becomes a confident leader of progress towards zero net emissions.

‘Our nation’s most prophetic economist’ —Ross Gittins

Genres: Nonfiction, Climate Change

386 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 4, 2022

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

[Max Collett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic vision and imagination of Australia’s potential as a net zero superpower. Only 4/5 because the land carbon chapter was weak, and a bit more discussion of the politics and political economy of the vision would’ve been great

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The economic opportunities for Australia from the zero carbon transition are enormous and quite exciting. In this excellent collection, Prof Ross Garnaut and colleagues argue that Australia has the opportunity to both contribute to global decarbonisation and radically expand exports, by exporting massive amounts of renewable energy, green steel and critical minerals. This creates an opportunity for a ‘regional renaissance’.

Yet, I think there's a lot more to say about the economic opportunities for Australia. This is particularly the case for cities, where about 80 per cent of Australia's economic activity is based. What innovations in construction will be catalysed when we reduce embodied energy from commercial buildings? How might we better leverage our research strengths to nurture a thriving climate technology sector? More broadly, how will technological advances associated with decarbonisation drive innovation and improve productivity? These questions were beyond the scope of this book, but are all important areas for further exploration

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sets out an exciting and ambitious vision. I now feel I have a much stronger grasp of energy policy and how a fully renewable grid could work. It answered several questions I’d had about the common “famine or feast” arguments against going all-renewable.

I would have liked a deeper discussion on nuclear energy and why renewables might be preferable to that path, but this wasn’t really explored.

At times, the picture presented feels like a kind of utopia—perhaps even a pipe dream. Then again, maybe that’s exactly the point: lay out the best-case scenario and see how far we can get. Shoot for the moon, and if you miss, you still land among the stars.

For me, the first half of the book was the most informative. The second half became more technical, and I found myself moving through it more slowly.

Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone. It left me far better informed about a subject I’d only had a passing understanding of before.

[Corri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the opportunities for large scale industrial decarbonisation in Australia.
The chapter on Australia’s carbon budget was highly technical, but provides much needed clarity on where Australia fits in the global decarbonisation effort and why cries of “but China!” are not only mis-informed, but irrelevant.
Other chapters covering green hydrogen, decarbonisation of urea and at the same time increasing food security and the opportunity for land carbon sequestration and biochar as a negative emissions technology are pertinent and should be part of our decarbonisation vernacular.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should be firmly in the fantasy section.
Australian Engineering consists of the phrase "She'll be right, mate"
Australians should in no way touch high tech like nuclear technology or large scale geoengineering.
OR very high voltage power stations.
there was a similar book in 2007 that claimed Australia could be the solar energy Saudi Arabia. We all knew how that pipe-dream had turned out.

ps: Morocco has the Sahara desert so it will be the next energy superpower. Oh, wait. This book uses the same logic.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book for the enthusiast. Some of the chapters are fascinating and some are technical and dry for a layman like me. Worth skim reading and focusing on the parts that are of most interest to your expertise. Overall a very positive and optimistic look at Australia's industrial and energy future. The science is in place, but the political will and the business courage and imagination are not. this gives a great glimpse of our future potential; let's hope we can realise it.

[Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by academics so there is plenty of stats and meaningful info in here, even if in patches it can be a bit dry.

I learnt a lot, but I guess in some parts the economic arguments only stand up if there is a heavy carbon tax and that we are one of the only nations to tap into renewables en masse.

Even then, still gives you a really clear picture of what the future could look like and what we need to do to get there.