Over the next month, with the pandemic now controlled, public servants will celebrate the New Year, (hopefully) take a breather, and then redouble efforts on the much larger challenge facing us all: the climate crisis.

With such a large challenge ahead, Australia will conclude its first year of the climate decade in sorrowful irony; a nation with net-zero emissions targets across every state and territory that, internationally, is deemed a climate laggard in need of bilateral coaxing.

Not without good reason: federal leadership on a 2050 net-zero target being virtually non-existent. Nevertheless, subnational governments aren’t laurel resting, intending to press ahead with laying the foundation for long-term change over the next three years.

Read the full article on The Mandarin website, featuring commentary by Prof Will Steffen