Hitting climate goals means no coal power, and no new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, report finds - Renew Economy

A report has found that Australia cannot meet its climate goals while operating coal power stations, and must ban new petrol and diesel car sales by 2035. The analysis does not specify which organisation produced the findings or detail the modelling assumptions.

Where this fits

The report confirms that coal must exit the grid on emissions grounds. But the framing obscures the cost and reliability question that follows: what replaces it? A renewables-only path to 2035 has under-counted the whole-system cost of firming capacity, long-duration storage, transmission backbone reinforcement, and the critical minerals supply chain. The 2035 car deadline compounds a separate problem: electrification of transport will demand grid capacity and materials (lithium, cobalt, nickel) sourced overwhelmingly from China. This is not only a climate or affordability question. It is a dependence question.

What it means

Australia will need to replace coal generation with something dispatchable and reliable. Wind and solar are cost-effective on their own terms, but do not provide firm power. The gap between the coal exit deadline and the availability of dispatchable alternatives, whether nuclear, long-duration battery, green hydrogen, or gas, is the critical constraint. Moving the car fleet to electric in seven years while the electricity system itself is mid-transition compounds that strain. Unless Australia secures domestic refining capacity for battery minerals or locks in long-term offtake agreements outside China, the transition becomes a leverage point for a strategic rival. The report's silence on these variables is the silence of incomplete planning.