The Sustainable Economy Program aims to identify options for Australia to make a rapid transition to an environmentally and socially sustainable economy. Australia has tremendous opportunity to leverage its abundant natural resources and skills in innovation to build a fair, sustainable and prosperous economy – one that provides a secure future for all Australians. Yet to do so, we need to get the policy settings right.

The Sustainable Economy Program is underpinned by an understanding of the problems caused by systemic short-termism in both the public and private sectors and by the failure to value public goods which are hard to measure or monetise. The Program will address these problems in two ways:

Valuing What Matters
The economic invisibility of resource depletion and pollution leads to systemic failures in public and private decision making. As a result, we lack a coherent set of policies for sustainably managing our natural capital. Valuing What Matters will demonstrate the value of Australia’s natural wealth in order to promote better decision making about how we manage our natural capital.

Greening Our Economy
Australia is not doing enough to build a diverse economic structure that can thrive in a resource- and carbon-constrained future. Our poor resource productivity and dependence on commodities is a potential vulnerability in a world of volatile prices and rapid capital flows. Greening Our Economy will identify enabling policies and conditions to tip the economic playing field towards activities that support the transition to a fair, sustainable and prosperous economy.

The Sustainable Economy Program has been funded by your donations. CPD would particularly like to thank Graeme Wood for his important contribution to the advancement of a new economic agenda in Australia.

Ian Dunlop | The Future of Energy: The Most Likely Scenario – Emergency Action

The Future of Energy: The Most Likely Scenario – Emergency Action is a submission by CPD fellow Ian Dunlop as a response to the government’s 2011 Draft Energy White Paper (DEWP). The DEWP confirms perceptions that the Australian Federal Government is, as yet, unwilling or unable to face up to the strategic risks to which this country is now exposed from the integrated climate change and energy dilemma. Some key concerns include: •  Climate Change and Energy are inextricably … more

Taegen Edwards on Post Carbon Pathways | BayFM Spin Cycle

Taegen Edwards speaks to BayFM’s Karin Kolbe on the recently published report Post Carbon Pathways: Reviewing post carbon economy transition strategies. Edwards outlines the key government policies and non-government projects from across the globe that address climate change at the scale and size that is required. In particular, Edwards promotes World in Transition, a report by the German Advisory Council on Global Change as a key solution, as it sets concrete structures for countering the social … more

FAQ Research | Coal Seam Gas – Behind the Seams

Coal Seam Gas – Behind the Seams, is an exciting and extremely necessary project, run by FAQ Research in conjunction with Crikey, examining all aspects of the Coal Seam Gas issue in the lead up to the Queensland state election on March 24. Impacting directly on farmers, rural and regional communities and the environment, CSG exploration and extraction also raises big questions about the future of our state, of our nation, and of our planet. As … more

 

Fiona Armstrong | Rolling The Dice at Durban

“In the final week in Durban a sense of frustration is permeating the COP, where aspirations for a global deal remain high, but expectations swing between mildly hopeful and almost absent.”   The 2011 Durban Climate Change Conference is in its final week and its organisers are hopeful of hammering out a deal that finally makes it a legal obligation to tackle climate change. CPD fellow Fiona Armstrong is attending the event and has given her … more

Laura Eadie | ABC Local Radio Newcastle

CPD researcher Laura Eadie appeared on ABC 1233 Newcastle Local Radio this morning – interviewed by Jill Emberson –  talking about Australia’s future sustainable economy and the increasing recognition of climate change in Australian coastal planning within public policy. Laura is the author of Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy the first in a series of reports that will look at how different sectors of Australia’s economy can benefit from policies to preserve the environment and resources that sustain … more

Protection Vital to Securing Our Marine Wealth | Miriam Lyons & Laura Eadie

Australia is surrounded by a vast wealth of oceans. More than 70 per cent of our territory lies under water – the third largest and most biodiverse marine estate in the world. So far we’ve stepped up to the challenge of managing one important marine resource – our fish stocks – better than most countries in the world. However, given that 63 per cent of the world’s stocks are overfished, that’s a bit like saying … more

 

Adelaide Now | Seagrass ‘stores $79 per ha of carbon’

Online news outlet Adelaide Now covers the release of our new report; Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy (available to Download here). The article draws attention to one of the key messages of the report, the economic value of the carbon that is stored in our oceans ecosystems. “Sea grasses store 10 to 40 times as much carbon per hectare as forests, and Australia’s sea-grass meadows are the largest in the world, a report by the Centre … more

The People’s Daily | Australia Puts Price on Dying Oceans

Our research on our ocean wealth makes it all the way to China – The People’s Daily reports on CPD’s research paper Stocking Up: Securing our Marine Economy, emphasising its implications for Australia’s carbon tax debate. According to Laura Eadie, “It’s not an easy thing to put a price on the value of life let alone an ecological treasure chest that sustains and if protected could sustain us for future lifetimes, but that’s what this … more

Forbes Advocate | $25b Treasure Trove Uncovered

WHAT price nature? When it comes to adding up the ecological benefits to Australia of its huge marine domain, the first serious stab at a value is $25 billion. Forbes Advocate Andrew Darby reports on CPD’s Research Paper Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy. Building on the UN Environment Program biodiversity assessments, CPD’s paper counted the worth of nature hidden beneath the sea’s surface. As Environment Minister Tony Burke indicates, this is once-in-a-generation chance to protect … more