Professor Ian Lowe (AO) is Emeritus Professor at Griffith University, and President of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He produced Australia’s first national report on the state of the environment in 1996, and has been a referee for the UN’s Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. He has made countless contributions to newspapers, radio, television and periodicals, and written several books on climate change and what can be done about it.

Professor Ian Lowe’s 6 point plan

• A domestic emissions trading scheme should be set up, structured so as not to penalise corporations that have taken early action to reduce emissions, with a price for emitted carbon high enough to stimulate action (e.g. $35/tonne).
• Serious targets for electricity from renewable sources should be adopted: 20% by 2020, 40% by 2030 etc, recognising that the 2050 target will require a complete transition to a basket of renewables.
• Solar hot water systems should be installed in all new dwellings unless there are technical obstacles such as shading by nearby buildings, in which cases heat pumps or gas would be allowed.
• Minimum fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles should be introduced, with a period of grace of five years to allow re-tooling and sale of old stock. Minimum average fuel efficiency standards for all vehicle fleets should be introduced without delay.
• The existing subsidies for fossil fuel use (amounting to over $5 billion a year) should be phased out over a short period, e.g. five years.
• The system of minimum efficiency standards should be extended to all major domestic appliances and commercial energy-using equipment, with the standards brought up to world best practice within three years.