"As the head of the Regulatory Unit at the
Institute for Public Affairs, a right-wing think tank with close ties to
greenhouse sceptics, Moran's role has been to support the Government and the
fossil fuel corporations with anti-environmental opinions about climate
science, the costs of emission reductions and the pitfalls of renewable energy.
As a bureaucrat in the Kennett Government he played a major role in stopping,
for a time, the national adoption of energy performance standards for home
appliances that had been agreed by all the states. The IPA has assisted the
anti-wind lobby in Victoria, a move that appears to be driven by hatred of
environmentalists and a relentless scepticism about climate change."
An article by Giles Parkinson,
published 28 January 2014,
speculates that the Abbott government will appoint Alan Moran, from the ultra
right-wing think tank, Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), to a panel responsible
for a review of the Renewable Energy Target. The Coalition have been vocal about the need for a review, arguing
that the commitment to 20% renewable energy by 2020 is pushing up electricity
prices. Here, I will dissect Moran’s miniscule,
conservative brain by examining his contribution to a chapter in the book, The Greens: Policies, reality and consequences, published in
2011. Moran analyses the
Australian Greens’ (Greens) climate change policies. His chapter is a tirade against the carbon tax, renewable
technologies, and an absolute denial of the science on climate change. Moran’s chapter reveals much about; his
commitment to economic rationalism (privatization and deregulation) at the expense
of the environment; his disturbing paranoia about the Greens; and his selfish
nationalism and short-term-ism, that fails to acknowledge (the effect climate
change will have on) developing countries and future generations. I argue that Moran’s ties to the fossil
fuel industry make him a ridiculous candidate to review Australia’s Renewable
Energy Target.
In The Greens: Policies, reality and consequences, economist Alan
Moran argues that renewable technologies are economically and technologically unviable. He says, “nobody outside Green
activists believe solar and wind have a realistic role” in energy generation. Moran is unconvinced that greenhouse gases
are causing global warming
and he seems to suggest that climate change is an environmentalist/socialist
conspiracy. While Moran is totes off
his fucking head, many studies elaborate on the actual cost of renewable energy.
“A report by the University of Melbourne’s Energy Research
Institute (ERI) recently showed that with a small amount of biogas backup and
major electricity grid upgrades, it’s technically possible by 2020 for large
onshore wind farms and solar thermal power stations to meet all of
Australia’s electricity demand”. Studies comparing the economic cost of implementing measures to
address climate change reveal that the financial cost of not acting to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions will be much greater.
In the Quarterly
Essay, Quarry Vision: Coal, climate
change and the end of the resources boom, Guy Pearse reveals that the cost
of adapting to climate change will be 20 times greater than the cost of
reducing emissions to avoid its worst impacts. Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that the rapid transition to
renewable energy is a fundamental step toward mitigating the devastating
effects of climate change. In contrast, Moran would have us
believe that it is still up in the air whether renewable energy (or business as
usual) is the best choice for the future.
In his critique of the Greens’
climate change policies, Moran provides his own cost-benefit analysis of the
need to act on climate change. His
work is fundamentally flawed because he sways between totally dismissing the
science of climate change to significantly downplaying its effects. Employing methods typical of climate
change denialists, Moran suggests that climate change will have positive
effects, including, ‘in the retreat of permafrost and increased growing
seasons’.
Over the years, Moran has
consistently argued that Australia cannot afford to reduce its emissions. Moran
appeals to economic rationalism and selfish individualism (fears about cost of
living pressures are perpetuated by both Labor and the Coalition). He states that, “for Australia, the
Greens’ greenhouse action policies mean a direct cost to households – at least
tripling electricity bills in the longer term…The cost is colossal and would cut
deeply into Australians’ living standards”. In contrast, in an article for The Monthly from 2011, Guy Pearse says,
“a
30% increase in power bills coincided with the solar installation rush, leading
some to assume that high-cost renewables for the few pushes up electricity
prices for the many. In fact, the big reason for rising power bills is the
estimated $100 billion cost of upgrading electricity generation and network
infrastructure over the next decade”.
Pearse
explains that Moran provides misinformation about the financial cost of moving
to renewable energy. Pearse adds,
the “persistent notion that emission cuts will wreck the economy has provided
Australia with the motive for delay”.
Moran focuses exclusively on the
economic cost of acting on climate change, while a more sophisticated analysis
would consider the social, economic and environmental consequences of inaction. Even if we take the social and
environmental costs out of the equation, Wiseman (p.150) argues that “the
largest economic risk is that Australia will fail to take the actions needs to
make its economy competitive and resilient in the increasingly energy efficient
and renewable energy-fuelled global economy of the 21st century”.
Moran reminds me of the dangerous
economic rationalists that were described at the Limits to growth: Beyond
the point of inflexion conference I attended last year. In a brilliant
critique of modern capitalism, western economics and rampant individualism, nine Australian and International experts
outlined the world’s failure to address climate change and the need for urgent action. The speakers acknowledged the necessity moving away from the modern paradigm of
economic fundamentalism (evident in the likes of Moran), for both the survival
of our species, and the biodiversity on which human life is based. The conference’s
speakers warned that human beings may bring our fragile ecosystem down with
them, if we do not acknowledge, understand and respect the complex connection
we have with both our environment and our future generations.
Moran is eager to present a smorgasbord
of statistics to back his economic rationalist theories. He claims that
Australia only accounts for, “a trivial 1.5 per cent of global emissions”, and
that an, “analysis of the impact of wind power in Spain…shows that each job created
involves the loss of 2.2 jobs and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars”. Moran cites no sources for his
statistics and sensational claims.
Recent
research indicates that removing the carbon tax will increase electricity
prices in the medium term.
Moran also appeals to an ugly
Australian nationalism when he argues that Australia is only responsible for a
small amount of greenhouse gas pollutions. He ignores Australia’s extraordinarily high per capita
emissions. Moran’s call for inaction on climate change seems to be selfish and
entitled. Moran fails to mention
that “developed countries are responsible for close to 75% of emissions caused
by fossil fuel burning since 1850”.
Poor people in developing countries will suffer most from
the effects of climate change. Moran also ignores Australia’s role in contributing to offshore
emissions, being the world’s largest exporter of coal.
In June 2013, a report by the recently abolished Climate Commission revealed
that, if the world is to avoid some of the most catastrophic effects of climate
change, 2/3 of Australia’s coal needs to stay in the ground.
Did I hear you say something about the building of new ports and dredging to
export our coal? Wiseman
also points out that “burning the fossil fuel that corporations now have in
their reserves would result in emitting 2, 795 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide –
five times the safe amount”. It is
worth remember that ‘in setting Australian emission reduction targets it is
also crucial to bear in mind the simple mathematics of global and Australian
carbon budgets’.
While Moran argues that the world
is moving away from an international agreement, and that countries are choosing
not to act, on climate change, Wiseman points out that, “governments as
politically diverse as Germany and the UK, California and Chine, Denmark and
South Korea are all acting swiftly to implement comprehensive decarbonisation
strategies”.
Moran
descends into conspiracy theory, in an article on the carbon tax for ABC’s the Drum website. In 2011, while Labor were in
government, he said,
“for
the Government the tax will provide a means of balancing its budget and a war
chest to buy votes at the next election. Support is offered by those scientists
who want to be listened to and to have access to well-paid positions. Then
there are environmentalists who want to change the way people other than
themselves behave, consume and interact. Policy makers are also keen to be
involved in remodeling the economy in ways that will enhance their own stakes”.
Moran
is one of many IPA nutcases who make regular appearances on both the ABC television
program the Drum and its equivalent
website. ABC bias much J. It seems that Moran’s climate change
denialism makes it easy for him to lapse into paranoia about Labor politicians,
policy makers, environmentalists and socialists. While Moran is busily lecturing the public about the privilege
of scientists, environmentalists and other ‘left wing nut-jobs’, he fails to acknowledge
that he has anything to gain from his extremist position. Guy Pearse points out, however, “in
2001, Moran revealed two important things about his work as head of the IPA’s
Energy Forum. First, Moran
confirmed that the forum is funded by a secret group of a dozen energy
firms…second, he acknowledged that the IPA rarely took positions at odds with
the firms funding the Energy Forum”.
A former Liberal Party speechwriter
and adviser, Pearse argues that Moran had significant influence on Australian
government climate change policy, particularly during the Howard years. Pearse convincingly explains that Moran
was part of a successful effort to ensure that the Australian government
avoided acting on climate change, in the interests of securing profits for big
polluting fossil fuel industries
. Moran is involved in direct lobbying for these industries through his
involvement with the right wing (polluter funded) think tank, the IPA
.
Pearce argues that Moran was one of the most relentless voices opposing
polices that support renewable energy, but tellingly “commensurately mute about
subsidies for fossil fuel production and use”.
Moran continues to play a
significant role in defending the fossil fuel industry, contributing to the
delay (and watering down) of efforts to address climate change. At an anti-wind
rally, in June last year, Alan Jones introduced Moran as a person who “will play a key role in shaping Coalition policy,
should the Coalition come to government”.
Also in 2013,
Moran argued for abolishing the country’s climate change department, the
Australian Renewable Energy Agency and a cut to research into
sustainable development and climate change carried out in the Department of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
.
The ruthless economic rationalism
of Moran does not acknowledge the impact of climate change on our ecosystem, future
generations and developing countries. His focus on Australia’s financial
interests, with disregard for the rest of the world suggests that his extreme economic
rationalism and hyper-nationalism are inadequate in addressing climate change, a
problem which requires international cooperation. Invested in both the
interests of fossil fuel polluting corporations and an insidious version of economic
rationalism, it is obvious that Moran would philosophically appose Greens’
policies. Moran lacks the ability to see modern
economic thinking with a critical eye.
With so many elements of society needing to change to ensure the future
of our planet; our politics, our politicians, our media, our legal systems, our
education and our values, the conservative thinking of Moran makes him an
unsuitable candidate to review Australia’s Renewable Energy Target.
This short
termism was dealt with in a conference I attended last year at the University
of New South Wales, Limits to Growth:
Beyond the point of inflexion.
Nine expert Australian and International speakers outlined the world’s
failure to address climate change and discussed the need for urgent action. Jorgen Randers, Professor of Climate Strategy at the Norwegian Business
School, and co-author of the seminal environmental work ‘The Limits to Growth
(1972) and its updates in (1992, and 2004, acknowledged the short-termism of
democracy, where little is done about problems like climate change because acting
is not politically popular and acting is not popular for those economically
invested in traditional forms of energy that are compromising our environment
and our future. Ken Henry, Chair
of the Institute of Public Policy and Chair of the Review into Australia’s
Future Tax System in 2009-10 provides an Australian context to the lack of long
term vision in Australia. His main
concerns are that policy is not written for those that have not been born yet,
and building future growth through Sovereign Wealth Fund similar to
Norway. He talks specifically
about the fragility of the tax base in Australia and the lack of political
strength of governments to do what is need to be done to review tax for
future.)
(Should I have a little discussion of how the Greens’ economic
policies – list ‘Future fund out of coal’, ‘Global Economics’, Climate Change
and Energy, Biological Diversity, A Cutting Edge Economy, ‘Clean Energy
Roadmap, Economics, Fair-Priced Clean Energy are all underpinned by the
realities of Climate Change?)
