Nothing in budget for electrifying transport, which will be highest emitting sector by 2030

‘The Driven posts, “Nothing in budget for electrifying transport, which will be highest emitting sector by 2030”

The federal budget has allocated virtually nothing to electrifying transport, despite the Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) projections that show transport will be the highest emitting sector in Australia by 2030.

This is in stark contrast to the $6.7 billion of funding allocated to the production of hydrogen, and a further $7 billion for critical minerals in a package totalling, by some estimates, more than $22 billion.

To put the importance of rapidly decarbonising transport into context, the lifespan of new light and heavy vehicles is around 15 years, which means that vehicles sold today will still be spewing out greenhouse gases in 2039. That highlights the urgency to bring in battery electric light and heavy vehicles now and rapidly phase out of new ICE vehicle sales.

But despite this, the federal government has chosen not to spend big on electrifying transport, while at the same time handing $6.7 billion to an as-yet unproven green hydrogen industry.