The Treasury’s latest Intergenerational Report has made headlines for the following claim: “The direct impacts of higher temperatures on how we work are just one of the channels through which climate change will impact labour productivity, but one which could be significant. If global temperatures were to increase by up to 3°C or over 4°C, without adaptive changes to current ways of working, Australia’s aggregate labour productivity levels could decrease by 0.

The Western Australian government recently pledged to cut the state’s carbon emissions by 80% below 2020 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. As part of that plan it will, in its forthcoming Budget, provide funds to electrify 130 of the state’s buses at a cost of around $2 million each: