Innovation key to emissions reduction

In my previous posting, I spoke about innovation as the key to a long-term solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A carbon price will provide an incentive to change behaviour, encourage organisations and individuals to reduce their emissions – but this won’t be enough. We all have to change the way we actually do things. To make that change requires innovation.

This is all straight forward. But, as we know, there generally isn’t enough private investment in innovation. Professor Garnaut recently released his updated paper number 6 `Low emissions technology and the innovation challenge’. This paper has not received as much attention or public scrutiny as his other papers. Yet this area is a crucial part of the carbon emission puzzle.

Professor Garnaut points out that global public expenditure on research, development, and demonstration of low emissions technologies increased in the aftermath of the GFC. He also highlights that a new feature of the global innovation effort is a substantial contribution from China and then India.

Encouraging and supporting innovation requires a multi-dimensional approach. We need to support both our public sector research organisations as well as the private sector with sufficient funding or incentives. This will allow them to conduct research in areas of national interest that will potentially provide low emissions technology.

Professor Garnaut outlines a four step plan to promote innovation.

1. Driving public and private basic research in low-emissions technologies
2. Market-led support for demonstration and commercialisation
3. Low-emissions technology commitment
4. Strong and independent governance arrangements.

So where is Australia in all of this? Are our existing research and development policies sufficient to encourage innovation on the scale required to develop commercial low emissions technologies? We need to be turning our minds to this part of the debate now. Research, development, commercialisation and implementation – it all takes time, let’s start moving now.