The response should include both supply options – other transport fuels – as well as the demand side of the equation: how can we reduce our need for oil products? Some alternative transport fuels have been known and used for decades: alcohol from sugar cane and synthetic liquid fuel from gas. There are new forms of transport energy on the horizon; hydrogen produced from water by renewable energy is the most likely to be sustainable.

Renewable energies, such as solar or wind power, are cleaner still. These natural energy flows are huge, far greater than human energy needs. As a specific example, the world's energy use for a year is only about double the solar energy hitting Australia in one summer day. We should get much more of our energy from sun, wind and other renewable sources. It will cost a bit more than burning coal, but it won't impose the large and growing costs of climate change.

Ian Lowe is Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Griffith University and president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He is the Earth Champion ambassador for Earth Dialogues Brisbane, July 21-24.

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