I recently listened to a McKinsey podcast, Pathways and Obstacles to a Low Carbon Economy, with Lord Adair Turner and Arnout de Pee, and was reminded of the UK’s Energy Transitions Commission that is Chaired by Lord Turner.

Initially they may have drawn criticism due to some of their funding sources, but the Energy Transitions Commission recognise that there is an urgent need to make the right decisions about energy systems. They aim to accelerate change towards low-carbon energy systems that enable robust economic development and limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2°C.

They accept that the changes required in energy systems are not simple, but are made up of many different, inter-connected energy transitions. Their aim is to inform what it will really take to create credible, accelerating transitions towards universal, clean energy systems across the world.

We have The Energy Policy Institute of Australia that aims to foster an attractive and secure energy investment climate, and to promote an industry which is internationally competitive. While it accepts that the world must transition to a low-carbon society as quickly as it can afford to do so, is that enough? Is that approach out of date?

No matter which side of Australian politics you look at, “energy policy failure” is a current, and common, headline. Google it and you will find it in The Guardian, The Australian, Australian Financial Review and even Stop-These-Things and the University of Sydney.

Our approach to energy policy does not seem to have been working, any maybe that is because it is not well informed. An Australian Energy Transitions Commission sounds like a good idea and probably well overdue.

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