In an effort to reduce its gas usage, the ACT government has rescinded the requirement that new developments be connected to gas, and is aiming to have all premises disconnected from gas within 25 years.

Furthermore, it charges no stamp duty on zero-emissions vehicles and gives a 20 per cent discount on their registration fees. There is a network of electric vehicle charging stations across the territory.

"The ACT should be totally carbon neutral by 2045," says Dr Will Steffen, emeritus professor at the Australian National University.

Steffen says the territory will be one of the few jurisdictions in the world to achieve the carbon reductions necessary to avoid runaway global heating.

"The notion promoted by the Morrison government and its media backers that no one else is doing anything much about climate change is a uniquely Australian bubble phenomenon," Richard Denniss, chief economist with The Australia Institute told The Saturday Paper.

The prime minister once again refused to commit to anything beyond his government's current emissions reduction target when he spoke at the National Press Club recently. This doesn't tally with what is happening at state level, for "every state and territory in Australia now has a net zero emissions target by 2050," said Denniss, "which effectively means Australia has a net zero target by 2050. So, it's meaningless, when every state and territory says it has a net zero target, to have a federal government saying, "No, we don't."

Of course, it is by no means certain that the states will meet their targets. None have detailed how they will be achieved. There are also plenty of coal and gas lovers in their parliaments fighting hard to keep polluting.

Nonetheless, there have been some significant examples of progress towards an emissions-free future.

Big batteries to store wind and solar generated electricity are being built. South Australia's big battery has been so successful in driving down prices and stabilising the grid that its capacity is being expanded by 50 per cent. When the battery was first installed in 2017, Morrison - then treasurer - ridiculed the project, comparing it to tourist attractions such as the Big Banana.

Equally significant was the news that the Australian Energy Regulator had approved a proposal to build a $1.5 billion, 900-kilometre interconnector between SA and New South Wales.

The SA government described the new infrastructure as the "foundation piece" of its plans to have 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. The SA government is also moving to fit 40,000 houses with batteries to further improve the system's resilience. No news, though, on how SA will tackle the other sources of emissions.

There has also been a significant reduction in solar farm approvals lately. Furthermore, Australia's coal-fired generators are getting old. Should one of the big ones close, said Professor Andrew Stock of the government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation, "prices will go very high".

So, the greatest risk is not the one cited by Morrison and his colleagues - the intermittency of renewables when the sun doesn't shine, or the wind doesn't blow. Rather, it is that the old fossil fuel plants are more likely to fail.

It's a concern recognised not only by the experts but increasingly by the more progressive elements on Morrison's side of politics, who are pushing for the government to lift its renewable aspirations. To date, Morrison has sided with the climate reactionaries in his party.

As to why the prime minister is so resistant to transition to renewables, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that it's linked to Australia's dependence on fossil fuel exports. Harder to understand is the National Party's love affair with coal.

Some of its federal MPs are pushing for more coal-fired power stations. The only answer seems to be that some mines are located in Nationals' voting electorates. Perhaps the tail is wagging the dog.