I’m Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy. AMA about climate change, energy, what the Government is doing and the upcoming election.
G’day Reddit, I’m Chris Bowen. I’ve been Minister for Climate Change and Energy since June 2022 and I represent the seat of McMahon in Western Sydney.
Over the last term of parliament, we’ve made good progress on the issue of climate change. We’ve scored some major wins, and we’ve turned things around massively in terms of reducing emissions over the next decade. But because we’ve made progress, all of that is stake at the next election. The Coalition have said that they will rip up most of what we’ve done. Whether it be in relation to reducing emissions from our big emitters, decarbonising our grid, encouraging more EVs and fuel efficient it cars - all of our progress is at risk.
This election is a real choice for the Australian people. We can continue our track towards 82% renewables in the grid by 2030, or we can put a stop to all of that. The Coalition plan would see us cap renewable energy, effectively putting a stop sign on the rollout. That would see us relying on ageing coal fired power stations for decades while we wait for their nuclear scheme. I not only think that that would be terrible for the planet, but it would be terrible for power bills and terrible for reliability of the grid.
This election is so important. I'm pleased with our progress, but not yet satisfied. We’ve made good progress but want to keep going. I’m excited to chat to you about what that future looks like.
We’ll kick off at 5.30pm AEDT. See you then.
Proof: https://bsky.app/profile/chrisbowenmp.bsky.social/post/3ll37an63ws2z