Australia is a sunburnt country with some of the best renewable energy resources in the world. Almost half of our electricity already comes from the sun and wind, and over 40% of homes have solar panels. Solar, wind, and battery storage give Australia the foundations to become a clean energy manufacturing and export powerhouse. But we’ve got a long way to go. Climate change poses an urgent and existential threat to communities and to nature. To genuinely cut pollution, protect nature and support communities, the transition to clean energy needs to be both fast and fair.
About 80% of the coal, oil, and gas mined in Australia is exported overseas. In 2024 alone, Australian exports were responsible for 1.2 billion tonnes of CO₂. That pollution doesn’t stay there. It’s fueling the extreme weather already hitting us at home: the Black Summer bushfires that claimed 33 lives and cost $10 billion; the 2022 Queensland floods that destroyed homes and businesses, racking up $7.7 billion in damages; the deadly heatwaves costing our economy billions a year.
Yet despite this reality, Australian governments keep waving through new coal and gas export projects. There are 100+ fossil fuel developments on the Federal Government’s Major Projects list. Coal giants are pursuing expansions with mine lives stretching into the next century – some approved to operate until the 2110s. Each approval locks in decades more emissions, worsening the extreme weather Australians already face, harming the people and places we love, and delaying the clean energy transition that we so urgently need.
The phase-out is inevitable. The question is whether it happens fast enough to prevent further irreversible climate disasters, and on terms that protect workers, communities, and nature. Sunrise works to oppose new coal and gas export projects, while strengthening the conditions that enable a planned phase-out in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. We support communities to speak up about environmentally destructive projects, challenge the fossil fuel industry’s grip on Australia’s political agenda, and build the public and political support needed to transform Australia from a global climate laggard into a clean energy leader.