Think tank unfurls Aussie emission-busting superpowers

Former competition watchdog chief Rod Sims is heading up a new think tank to put energy transition at the heart of economic thinking and industry.

The Superpower Institute, chaired by Mr Sims and building on the ground-breaking work of top economist Ross Garnaut, will be officially launched on Friday at the inaugural South Australian Industry Climate Change Conference.

Mr Sims says it would be "strange" to keep discussion of the Australian economy, investment and jobs separate from the transition, as climate change is no longer a side issue.

Australia can have more employment and higher incomes in the relatively short term, and be much richer in the longer term, by moving early and decisively away from a carbon-based economy.

"Not only is the transition consistent with a rising standard of living for Australians, I think it is also necessary for this to be achieved," he said.

Australia can repeat the experience of the China resources boom that peaked 10 years ago, according to Mr Sims.

As a leading "superpower transition" country, Australia has the best combinations of wind and solar resources, the largest stores of energy transition minerals, mining and industrial expertise, and a land mass that can serve as a "carbon sink" to store emissions.

Australia's advantages relative to the rest of the world are so significant that using them would also increase the chance of global success on climate change.

"In addition to our just over one per cent of world emissions now, we could remove around another seven per cent of global emissions that other countries will find very difficult to abate," Mr Sims said.

And since Australia covers about five per cent of the Earth's land surface, supplying about eight per cent of the world's renewable energy is not a stretch.

South Australia, in particular, could experience a long period of high employment growth with rising incomes and reverse more than half a century of a declining share in the national economy.

Although investor interest has focused on Western Australian lithium to supply the world's electric car makers, SA is home to 69 per cent of the nation's copper and much of the nation's graphite resources - also crucial energy transition minerals, along with nickel and others.

Australia is also the largest exporter of minerals that require the burning of immense amounts of energy to process into steel and aluminium, which could be made here using renewable energy at a much lower cost to the environment and customers. 

Mr Sims says electrification is not only important in itself, it's also the lowest-cost path to decarbonising many activities that have not traditionally used electricity.

For example, green hydrogen made using renewable energy is at present the lowest cost replacement for coal for reducing iron ore to iron metal, he added.