Germany, Italy and the United States took to the G7 summit as global leaders in green competitiveness, while Australia stood out as an environmental gremlin, having neglected its green production capabilities for over two decades.

According to a new global analysis published on Friday involving Monash University and the Grantham Research Institute, Australia now barely ranks in the top 100 of 231 countries and territories that were assessed on the basis of their green competitiveness, well behind Germany, Italy, the United States and China.

In fact, of the countries considered, Australia appears to be in the least favourable starting position to competitively export products with environmental benefits – it is cited to have just 12 ‘green strengths’ compared with 59 in Canada and 153 in China. 

“It’s heartbreaking to see Australia lagging other nations, when it really ought to be a leader,” Dr Penny Mealy, research fellow within SoDa Labs in the Monash Business School and Research Associate at the University of Oxford, said.

“The writing has been on the wall for some time. Demand for emissions-intensive products is on the decline, and countries are now seeking to preferentially favour trade in green goods,” Dr Mealy said.

While Australia does have some competitive export products – such as electric signal, safety and traffic controls and rail/tramway construction materials – the study found that it is now mission critical for Australia to get more proactive about decarbonising its production processes and investing in the new productive capabilities that will allow it to thrive in the green economy. 

“China has rapidly increased its competitiveness in green products over the past 20 years and is now the world leader in exporting solar photovoltaic cells, fuel cells and electric soil heating apparatus, among other products,” Dr Mealy said. 

“Australia, on the other hand, has seen a significant decline in its green production capabilities over the past two decades and now lags behind many countries in terms of its capacity to competitively export products relevant to the green economy.”

Dr Mealy emphasised Australia’s incredible endowments in renewable energy, as well as its fairly decent track record in green patenting, in stressing the need for the current “green laggard” to up its global export competitiveness.