The new details of the government’s emissions reduction road map announced on Tuesday are sensible, modest and pragmatic, says Frank Jotzo, the head of the Australian National University's centre for climate and energy policy.

In the long run, he says, they would drive down Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

"But we are not facing a modest long-term problem, [in climate change] we have an immediate large-scale problem.”

The new elements outlined by Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor on Tuesday, “do not match the urgency of that problem,” says Jotzo.

Central to Taylor’s speech was the announcement of a hierarchy of funding priorities. Technologies seen as not yet mature but with the potential to have “transformational impacts” in reducing Australian carbon emissions and benefiting the broader economy will be placed at the top. Technologies judged to be no longer in need of government support – such as coal, gas, wind and solar – are ranked last and would only attract funding in the event of market failure.

Read the full article on The Sydney Morning Herald website, featuring commentary by Prof Frank Jotzo