Gavin Gilchrist is the managing director of Big Switch Projects, a company set up ten years ago as an advisory group on energy efficiency and carbon management issues to business and government. In this program Gavin jumps into the future for a look at what life might be like five years from now, in a seriously carbon-constrained world. In 2015 Kevin Rudd’s running the United Nations, Julia Gillard’s prime minister and the National Climate Commission has taken some tough decisions. All short-haul airline flights have been banned, there’s a high speed rail link between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and our houses, offices and factories have been transformed. Gavin Gilchrist is chair of the National Climate Commission and he’s been invited to Melbourne’s Federation Square to give an update on what’s been achieved in taking Australia down a new low-carbon path.

Robyn Williams: Isn’t it terrific having Dr Who back with us, even though he looks a little different these days (must be my eyes). Now one of the deals of the franchise – and you may have read about this – is that the ABC gets to borrow the Tardis. And having been part of Dr Who in the late ’60s, I have first go.

So today, we nip ahead a few years, to 2015, to meet an ex-colleague from the ABC, Gavin Gilchrist. Do you remember him from ABC News? He’s followed the path of many other journalists to high public office, people like Tony Abbott, Maxine McKew, Bob Carr and Mussolini. Here’s Commissioner Gilchrist, in a National Address.

Gavin Gilchrist: Good afternoon.

I’m delighted to be here in Melbourne on this day in 2015, to give you an update on our progress towards Australia’s ambitious 2020 carbon reduction target of 50%.

And what a lot there is to report!

It’s almost five years since former prime minister Rudd appointed me chair of the National Climate Commission, giving me total control over every single aspect of Australia’s carbon emissions: the energy sector, the airlines, the car industry, business, the building industry and the government’s own operations.

You’ll recall that until 2010, as a nation we ignored the many wake-up calls from the planet’s climate.

But the complete devastation of Miami from ‘Hurricane George’ in August 2010 resulted in climate change denial losing its support totally, overnight.

I accept that not since World War II has one person been given so much power as I now have over the national economy.

The National Climate Commission has indeed been granted sweeping powers equivalent to a wartime footing because this is a war we’re fighting. It’s not a war to save the planet. Whatever happens with climate change, the planet will survive. This is a war to save humanity. Before Miami, it wasn’t clear that humanity wanted to survive. Now there’s no question.

I must say, how wonderful Federation Square looks under its new canopy – elegant lightweight structures providing welcome shade and solar energy that makes this whole Fed Square sit carbon positive. It was one of the first projects funded by our Commission.

By way of reporting on progress towards Australia’s carbon reduction goals, I’m going to give you a snapshot of what I’ve been doing these past 24 hours, since travelling from my home in Sydney.

This is a day in my life as the Head of your National Climate Commission.

Of course, I didn’t fly. Nobody flies short distances now in the frivolous way we used to just a few years ago. We’ve banned all short-haul domestic flights.

I came down on the Virgin train, The Kevin Rudd Express. That new high-speed train is brilliant. It’s so smooth you can balance a pencil on its end. From the centre of Sydney to Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station in two and a half hours. Of course there were the sceptics. People said those sorts of speeds couldn’t be achieved in Australia. We said if the TGV in France can hit 570 kilometres an hour, we can do the same. That’s the real Spirit of Australia.

And what have we done with Tullamarine Airport? We’ve turned it into a windfarm. They did build an airport there for a reason.

It’s windy.

Travelling to my hotel, not much has changed. Caught the tram, used my SuperMyki ticket, the new national ticketing system. OK, I accept we’ve only just got that working smoothly. But it’s a great system today. I love that feature where it tracks your personal carbon budget.

When I hopped off and looked up at my hotel, I thought: How we’ve transformed that building in the past few years.

More solar panels on the roof, both photovoltaics and solar hot water, with the equipment manufactured locally at the old Ford site in Geelong.

How our solar industry has taken off! And that tiny fuel cell in the hotel basement! So neat: power and heat from a package smaller than a bar fridge.

The hotel owners have punched a new atrium through the core of the building to flood the interior with natural light, and they’ve also put new insulation in the ceiling and walls to save on cooling and heating.

In 2015, I think we really have got that national insulation scheme right.

Some still ask me, ‘Gavin, how have these projects been paid for?’ All these projects, in our buildings, in industry, in our homes, have been jointly funded by your carbon taxes.

We now pay more for everything we use, depending on the carbon emissions produced. That raises a heck of a lot of money for the Australian government, about $10-billion every year, and rising.

Some of that money went into cutting other business taxes, especially payroll tax. So none of us pays any more tax than we did before. It’s like the GST when it came in, it’s just slicing up the tax cake differently.

From Day One, the National Climate Commission had $5 billion a year to help business, households and government, cut carbon emissions.

Back to my day. For breakfast, I visited another of our projects: Melbourne’s first carbon neutral McDonald’s. To me, there’s no better start to the day than a carbon neutral hash brown, a carbon neutral Egg McMuffin, and an organic Fair Trade coffee.

I know a lot of you have been sceptical about the concept of ‘carbon neutrality’. I was too, but part of your carbon taxes went to the ACCC and they are now ruthlessly pursuing any false environmental claims. And haven’t there been a few of those.

But today in 2015, McDonald’s is not one of them. We funded a total redesign of the store. You can see it’s carbon neutral. All natural light by day. Solar energy. A building superbly designed to catch local breezes off Docklands. And a gas-driven air conditioning system.

Carbon emissions are down 90%.

And the best thing of all – this is just the most comfortable place to chill out. It’s simply a great space. Deep green design is good design.

There’s more.

We haven’t just cracked down on air travel. All six-cylinder and V8 cars have been banned.

All new homes are 25% smaller.

Freeway construction has ceased.

Land clearing is illegal.

Lights are never left on in offices. The movement detectors turn them off.

Brown-coal fired power stations have been shut down.

The directors of any business not recycling 75% of its waste face stiff fines.

The export coal industry will be phased out in 10 years.

We ran out of easy options a long time ago.

After my biodynamic, organic, carbon-neutral, locally-grown breakfast at Macca’s, I hopped back on the tram for a visit to one of our showcase residential projects in suburban Moonee Ponds.

As you’ll know, because most of your homes will have been part of the program, since the Rudd Government and the States committed to 80% greenhouse cuts back in 2010, major residential retrofit schemes have been rolled out across our city.

We’ve all got ceiling insulation. Single-paned windows have been removed and replaced with advanced double glazing.

All electric hot water units have been removed and replaced with either solar or gas boosted system, and one in three houses now has a grid connected solar photovoltaic system.

But at the showcase zero-carbon street, Wong Way, we’ve gone a step further. We haven’t just cut energy use, we’ve made the street a net exporter of electricity with both solar and the new-generation small-scale wind turbines.

You’ll be amazed how often people say, ‘Gavin, why didn’t we do this sooner?’ Shifting fast to a low carbon world has meant great change, certainly some painful, but it’s brought all sorts of benefits.

Our houses are more comfortable.

We drive less.

We walk and cycle more.

We’re fitter.

The road toll is down.

We enjoy better public transport.

And because we’re not spending so much time in traffic, we have more time for each other.

Back to my day. On my way here I had to get a few things from the supermarket. Of course, I went to the new Coles Green store. It’s great to see one supermarket operator, here in 2015, finally taking sustainability seriously, and they’re attracting more customers because of it.

You remember how just a few years ago when you went into a supermarket you were blinded by fluorescent lights? And the kids froze when you walked down the cold food aisles. No more in this showcase store – it’s all natural light and natural ventilation. And they’ve put doors on the refrigeration cabinets. Supermarkets no longer look like boxes from the outside – proving that sustainability is more than just green performance, it can look good, too.

In supermarkets – as everywhere – we’ve realised that for too long we substituted smart building design for bucketloads of cheap energy.

So you can see that in the five years since we were set up, the National Climate Commission has hardly been idle.

I’d like to thank all those who’ve made it possible.

To former Prime Minister Rudd, for establishing bold targets and ensuring the mandate to deliver them. In his new role as UN Secretary-General, I know that while he may be off the scene in New York, he stays in touch with what we’re doing.

To Prime Minister Gillard, for communicating so clearly to the Australian people what needs to be done.

Thanks too, to Australia’s special climate change envoy to the United Nations Malcolm Turnbull, for tirelessly promoting the issue globally.

And thanks to you, the Australian people, who according to all the polls, accept the need for the tough measures we’ve instituted these past five years.

Thanks for your support

I know you can see the results from the cuts achieved already, and market research tells us that Australians are proud that this country has cut its emissions faster than any other nation.

Australia has gone from climate villain to climate hero. We couldn’t have done it without the support of every household and every business and every government agency.

I’ll leave you today with a special announcement. Here in 2015, I’m pleased to report that President Obama’s special envoy for climate change, Al Gore, is coming here tonight to award Melbourne with a United Nations Environment Program award for the most sustainable city in the Asia Pacific.

He’s on the Kevin Rudd Express right now as we speak, travelling under the Snowy Mountains, powered by 100% renewable energy at 500 kilometres an hour. He’ll be here in just under an hour.

Thank you.

[Applause…cheers…]

Robyn Williams: Well that was Gavin Gilchrist, managing director of Big Switch Projects. They advise government and business on energy efficiency. His book The Big Switch: Clean Energy for the 21st Centuryis a critique of why people have not responded to the carbon challenge.

And while we’re in 2015, it’s intriguing to glance at the polls for the upcoming election in 2016. Prime Minister Gillard is under a huge challenge from the dream team of Christopher Pyne and Peter Dutton, whose lead is now 34 points in the two-party preferred. Hard to beat, I’d have thought.

Next week at this time: Peak Oil, another glimpse at the future.

I’m Robyn Williams.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2010/2876732.htm#transcript