Originally published at RenewEconomy.

Victoria will go to the polls in a month and the Liberal National Party opposition, led by Matthew Guy, has failed to release a comprehensive climate change policy.

Pressure is mounting on Matthew Guy to show he takes climate change seriously.

Activists in detective costumes have staged actions to search for Matthew Guy’s missing climate policy. In the blue-ribbon seats of Hawthorn and Kew, the Lighter Footprints community group is organising a town hall meeting (featuring Oliver Yates) on the need for climate action.

And then there’s the Wentworth by-election result where the Liberal party suffered a record swing against it.

While Wentworth voters were clearly upset at the Federal Coalition’s leadership turmoil and had a strong independent candidate to vote for, exit polling commissioned by the Australia Institute found that the Liberal party’s primary vote collapsed as a result of inaction on climate change and support for coal.

The same dynamic could play out in Victoria. The opposition’s failure to engage with climate change leaves it exposed.

After an absolutely full-on week for the Act On Climate team, we kick back and talk about the week's events in a more laid-back style. Halfway through the series, and the election run-up, and the nature of the campaign is starting to change. We wrap up the big events and actions AoC had planned, and executed, and note that the action now pivots to a more nimble, reactive role. Stay tuned for a lot of updates, but now, they'll be surprises!

Listen here or use the subscribe links to listen on your phone.

The Victorian election is a little over a month away and the campaign is heating up. 

While climate change is an under-reported issue at the state level, one place where it could have electoral impact is the regional seat of Macedon where leadership on renewable energy and pioneering efforts to cut emissions are visible to the community. 

The release of the IPCC's Special Report on the impacts of 1.5C of global warming has piqued the public's awareness of what's at stake if governments fail to rein in polluting oil, gas, and coal companies and drive emissions cuts across the whole economy.

The Federal Coalition's comprehensive failure to address the issue has left many in the community frustrated and angry—particularly when climate impacts such as drought and winter bushfires are becoming more and more obvious. 

With environmental organisations calling for greater leadership at the state level and communities spearheading local efforts, political parties and their candidates are expected to demonstrate climate literacy, outline their plans to cut emissions, and help communities cope with the climate impacts that are now locked in (and set to get worse). 

What role might climate change play in the upcoming state election? Peter Gardner, a community climate champion from East Gippsland, explores. The following article originally published at Peter's blog.  

Melbourne University energy hub senior adviser Simon Holmes à Court has been asking politicians and would be politicians a simple question on climate change. Some time ago he asked Liberal candidate in the Mayo by-election Georgina Downer “can you please let us know whether you accept the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming?” More recently he has asked the same question of the Liberal candidate in the Wentworth by-election David Sharma, with, so far, no response. Simon has then publicised the response or non-response to his followers on twitter.

Following Simon’s example I decided to ask the same question to candidates in the five Gippsland electorates starting with Gippsland East. Although still 50 days from the election it soon became obvious that this was an exceedingly difficult task and that I should concentrate on Gippsland East. So far I have asked the question of the five known candidates in the electorate and all have responded.

What role might climate change impacts play in the upcoming state election? Peter Gardner, a community climate champion from East Gippsland explores. The following article originally published at Peter's blog.  

I have briefly examined the electoral prospects across Gippsland for climate candidates here. I concluded that given the right conditions all of the seats are vulnerable to strong candidates – Independents in the south and east, Labor in the west with Morwell ‘up for grabs’. Whilst the south and the east are probably safe for the Nationals conditions and the climate may go against them.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its highly-anticipated Special Report into the impacts of 1.5 degrees global warming.

The report finds climate change is already impacting communities around the world through increased severity of flooding, storms, drought and heatwaves, and that radical action is required to limit warming to well-below 1.5C.

Friends of the Earth Australia says the report is a stark wake-up call on climate change and reaffirms that all governments must undertake immediate, transformative action on climate or risk catastrophic impacts.

Victoria will go to the polls in less than two months. Community members concerned about climate change impacts are still waiting for opposition leader Matthew Guy and the Liberal party to release a policy to tackle climate change.

Matthew Guy will give a high-profile address on Victoria’s economic future at the Committee for Economic Development Australia in a fortnight. This speech is an opportune moment for the opposition to lay out its plan to rein in emissions and prepare our economy for climate impacts.

(Indeed, a speech on the future of Victoria’s economy that failed to acknowledge climate change would be shortsighted and a failure of political leadership.)

Polling shows that Victoria—Australia’s most progressive state—is ready for climate action. An in-depth study commissioned by Sustainability Victoria found that:

• 91 percent of Victorians accept some level of human causality for climate change
• 30 percent rate climate change in the top three issues facing the state
• 78 percent think climate change is an issue that requires urgent action now
• 84 percent support state Renewable Energy Targets
• 9 in 10 Victorians believe the state government should be taking action on climate change
• 8 in 10 want to live in a state that is leading on climate change

To date, the Labor government and the Greens have out performed Matthew Guy and the Coalition on climate action.

The Victorian Greens have become the first political party in the state to support a Climate Budget with the release of their climate and energy policy ahead of the November election.

Friends of the Earth welcome the announcement saying fresh thinking about climate change policy is long overdue. 

"The Greens announcement sets the bar for action on climate change," said Leigh Ewbank, Friends of the Earth climate spokesperson.

Originally published at Renew Economy.

Victoria will go to the polls in less than three months. The outcome of the 2018 state election will have big implications for tackling climate change and rolling out renewable energy.

Given that pundits are saying it will be a “knife edge” election, every vote matters. And the policies Labor and the Coalition take to the election on climate change could decide who forms government.

Will Premier Daniel Andrews and Labor seize the initiative and bring an ambitious package of commitments to its election platform? Will Matthew Guy and the Liberal National Party protect a point of vulnerability with voters by modernising their stance on climate change and energy?

We have the solutions to climate change. Humanity has known for decades that the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gas into the atmosphere which drives atmospheric warming and worsens events such as droughts, bushfires, damaging storms, and rising sea levels.

In knowing the cause of climate change we have developed the solutions such as renewable energy technology, methods to restore and preserve carbon sinks, and sustainable economic models.

We have the solutions to climate change, however what Australia has lacked in the past is the political will to enact them. Friends of the Earth's Act on Climate collective is seeking to change this with the campaign for Victoria's first Climate Budget.

With a modernised state budget, Victoria can invest in the comprehensive actions we know we need to take to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, such as intensifying bushfire seasons.

This blog presents a brief overview of the state budget, environmental funding, what a Climate Budget would look like, and why it's sorely needed.