It’s a day on from my initial report back on the budget and I’ve been trying to make sure I’m not getting carried away with the size of the renewable energy funding. After years of budgets being handed down that do the square root of not much for real climate solutions, I’m naturally inclined to try and work out where the wool is being pulled over my eyes.

And sure enough, more detail has come out today that paints a clearer picture of where climate change and clean energy stand in this year’s budget.

On the plus side:

  • The majority of the “Nation Building Infrastructure” funds for transport was provided to public transport projects.
  • About $160 million is going into programs to reduce energy demand, such as smart grids and energy efficient appliances.
  • Australian efforts to pursue nuclear disarmament through the non-proliferation treaty will also receive about $9 million.

But of course, there’s a down side too:

  •  The Green Loans program which the government promised to bring in last year has been cut by more than half.
  • The Land and Water Australia Centre, a vital resource for drought and other climate-related information, has been axed for a saving of just $16 million – peanuts when compared to the $300 million per year of our taxes being used to pay the coal industry’s fuel bill.
  • The great false hope of the coal industry, ‘clean coal’ was given $2.4 billion to continue on its carbon capture and storage (CCS) ‘bridge to nowhere’ projects.
  • Apparently, this government wants Australia to have its very own nuclear waste dump. About $4 million is going into a project to assess where the government would like to store the spent waste of one of the world’s most dangerous substances. And extra cash is going to fund the OPAL reactor, which is becoming increasingly expensive to operate.

Looking at the above, some people would think: ‘Hmm, a little for the good and a little for the bad … it sounds OK on the whole.’ But the thing is, this isn’t the whole story. By far the biggest problem with this year’s budget is the fact that not a single dollar of the $7 billion in annual taxpater handouts to fossil fuels was removed in this year’s budget. One-off announcements can change a budget’s complexion, but if we’re to ever have a truly green budget we need to reform the structure of our economy.

Right now, our economy is set up to suit the Australian status quo – an energy intensive, fossil-fuel guzzling society that has the world’s highest per-capita greenhouse emissions. We need the primary goal of our economic building blocks to be about decarbonising our economy as soon as is possible.

Looking back, previous budgets have been a wasteland of degraded and misued soil, full of nasty toxins. But this year, a couple of shoots have sprung up to brighten the scene and you get the sense that nature can claim back what was a dire situation.

Let’s be clear: the $1.5 billion for solar projects is a victory, no matter how rubbish other parts of the budget are. For the first time, we’re seeing real, targeted money being put into programs that see renewable energy fed to Australian homes. This money is proving that solar energy has the grunt to deliver large-scale electricity and for all those who have campaigned for progress on renewable energy, this is a win to celebrate. 

Sure, an even bigger chunk of money is being handed out to the coal industry to continue their pursuit of the ultimate oxymoron, ‘clean coal’. We should feel angry about this; not only is it wasted on a technology that we know can’t deliver in time to avoid catastrophic climate change, but we’ve just seen how a smaller amount of money given to solar will result in genuine clean energy being created.

But here’s the thing: $2 billion over nine years to carbon capture and storage is not much on an annual basis, considering that if they really wanted to deliver a commercial scale plant, we’d be looking at a price tag into the tens of billions just to reach that point. Even in the treasury documents, it is clear that this money is for demonstration plants and there was not a suggestion that it would give us carbon capture and storage at a commercial scale.

So what does this say? In 2018, when the CCS funding is due to expire, they would be still doing the commercial equivalent of playing on the front lawn with a mechano set. This is all while solar energy provides large-scale electricity to Australia (and possibly even to the coal industry’s demonstration projects). By 2018 we’ll either be on the path to avoiding catastrophic climate change or we’ll have failed and this CCS momey is the clearest signal in a long time that is will play no part in the climate solution.

This budget has a ‘turning of the tide’ feeling. Like yesterday, I feel we have cause for hope. It may take more hard work and pressure placed on industry and governments, but those advocating for real climate solutions have gained a bit of ground in this budget. Now, to press on for the full Energy [R]evolution!