Chris Bown has been crowing about his achievements in the renewable energy arena, claiming “The transition is progressing well, In May 2022 our national energy grid was about a third renewables. In the last quarter of 2025 it hit 50 per cent and each quarter in 2026 has broken a new quarterly record.”
The reality is far more sobering. Turn to Australia’s total energy use on page 24 of the Statistical Review of World Energy and it reveals that 92 per cent of the fuel that powered this nation in 2025 came from coal, oil and gas. Hydroelectricity, wind and solar combined make up a mere 8 per cent. About 40 per cent of our primary energy comes from oil because, as we re-learned when the third Gulf war kicked off, Australia runs on diesel.
While the amount of renewable energy being generated is increasing, so to is total global energy consumption continues to increase and with it greenhouse gas emmissions.
The real question is how do we prepare for climate change. Spending huge amounts of money on the energy transition may not be effective as our efforts are swamped by the reality of increasing global emmission. Maybe we should be thinking about investing in ways to live with greater environmental adversity.
Chris Ulmann has written a great piece on the subject https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/norways-energy-realism-exposes-the-great-flaw-in-australias-green-transition/news-story/a57f02e9268e91c71ecc91028c21d06c