Tasmania’s efforts to decarbonise over the coming decades will look very different to the rest of Australia and the world. Our state is one of the few jurisdictions that currently removes more carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) from the atmosphere than it emits. This unique position means that instead of phasing out coal, oil and gas, Tasmania’s primary challenges will be increasing renewable energy generation to support the decarbonisation of transport and key industrial sectors, and scaling up new, green industries.
Despite Tasmania’s strong position, decarbonisation will not be easy. Increasing renewable generation and transmission while upscaling new, green industries will entail many challenges, from sourcing specialist workers to managing community concerns about impacts on local biodiversity, agriculture, housing, health outcomes, and visual amenity. The TPE is committed to helping Tasmania to harness the benefits of the transition and mitigate its inevitable challenges.
Our work in this area includes:
- Annual progress reports on Tasmania’s greenhouse gas emissions
- Research into the options for reducing Tasmanian’s sectoral carbon emissions
- Convening a workshop of national experts to improve the reporting of Australia’s bushfire emissions
- Producing a vision for a climate-positive Tasmania
- Preparing submissions to Tasmanian Government reviews and draft plans for the State’s renewable energy future and climate action strategies.