There’s concern in Paris – and elsewhere – about whether the deal negotiated at UN climate change conference will be strong enough to drive global decarbonisation effort that everyone recognises is needed…Tony Seba, a leading academic from Stanford University, says it doesn’t matter…He says plunging costs of technology will sweep away political inertia and resistance of vested interests. So much so that by 2030, he believes coal, oil and gas generation and usage will be all but obsolete…One thing that Seba and Musk do agree on is the need to remove fossil fuel subsidies, which some would suggest includes the lack of a carbon price. “If they achieve that, it’s a huge goal,” Seba says. “Some of these targets will be pretty irrelevant. 2°C is not a target. Zero emissions is a target. We cannot control 2°C, but we can control zero carbon.” ..“Solar has been doubling installed capacity for years. But it started from a small base, so you ask yourself how many more doublings do you need to get to 100 per cent?..“In the case of solar, all we need is 7 more doublings – and that could happen in 13 or 14 years…As Labor’s energy spokesman, Gary Gray once said: He, Macfarlane and former energy minister Martin Ferguson are likes peas in a bod. Ferguson is now lobbying for oil and gas industry, Gray is an enthusiastic supporter of the Carmichael coal project, and many other coal mines, Macfarlane looks like he is about to be deputy prime minister.

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