A university partnership estimates the Australian government will need to invest over A$100 billion (US$68 billion) a year to successfully reach net-zero, with costs to substantially increase year-on-year until the slated target of 2050.
The group also estimated that governments would need to find over one million skilled workers to assist with decarbonisation efforts.
Net Zero Australia is a partnership between the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, Princeton University, and global consultancy Nous Group.
The group revealed in its interim report, released on Aug. 25, five scenarios for the country to reduce emissions and its slated consequences.
One graph revealed that current investments needed to be ramped up substantially, from under $100 billion a year to over $150 billion, to achieve net-zero to facilitate the gradual phasing out of fossil fuel generators in favour of renewable energy sources like mass solar panel and wind turbine farms, as well as new transmission systems….