Political debate has created division and confusion when it comes to how best to address climate change, but support for renewable energy is an area most people can agree on, write Peter Lewis and Jackie Woods.

For a profession so anchored in bright lights and hot air, politicians should be all over climate change.

But while there is demand for urgent action to tackle global warming, policy responses are more confusing than ever.

As public support for investing in renewable energy technologies ramps up our national Renewable Energy Target has been significantly downgraded.

The Coalition's Direct Action policy has long confused voters and consistently rates the lowest of any measure to tackle climate change.

Labor wonders how it can salvage an emissions trading scheme and a coherent policy position after the python squeeze of the anti-carbon tax campaign.

Meanwhile, the message from voters is loud and clear.

Q. In your opinion, do world leaders need to act to prevent the world's population from being impacted by climate change?

Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote other/ Independent Yes, they need to act now, without delay 45% 56% 27% 79% 42% Yes, they need to act in the next 12 months 10% 15% 10% 4% 7% Yes, they need to act in the next 5 years 10% 9% 13% 4% 11% Yes, they need to act in the next 10 years 4% 4% 6% 1% 4% No, they don't need to act 15% 6% 28% 5% 23% Don't know 16% 11% 16% 6% 14%

Or is it? This week's Essential Report shows the largest group of voters - 45 per cent - want political leaders to act quickly on climate change. That's a significant number but still fewer than half of all Australians.

Coalition voters are evenly divided between whether we need urgent action, or none at all. About a quarter of voters think action on climate change can be put off until some point in the future, between a year and a decade. And significant numbers throw up their hands and say they simply don't know whether or when we need action.

So while there's a strong desire for urgent action, there are big doses of confusion and division too - hardly surprising given the water-muddying nature of the political debate on global warming and Australia's response.

In this context, support for renewable energy is an area most people can agree on.

Compared to the complicated challenges of implementing carbon trading schemes or supporting high-emissions industries to transition to lower carbon output, investing in more solar panels and wind turbines seems like a no-brainer.

Q. Do you think Australia should put more emphasis, less emphasis or about the same emphasis as it does now on producing domestic energy from the following sources?

More emphasis Same emphasis Less emphasis Don't know Solar power 71% 14% 4% 11% Wind 62% 20% 6% 12% Hydro 55% 25% 4% 17% Gas 22% 41% 20% 17% Nuclear power 23% 25% 32% 21% Coal 9% 25% 50% 16%

Voters are starting to see investing in renewables not only as environmentally sound, but economically sound too.

These figures expose the recent cut to the Renewable Energy Target from 41,000 to 33,000 gigawatt hours as well out of step with public opinion - even if signed in a spirit of providing certainty to the emerging industry. Now the RET is being kicked while it's down, with the Government's move to count the burning of native forest waste as an eligible source of renewable energy the latest blow.

But while the RET is an important vehicle for driving investment in renewable technologies, it was introduced as just one plank of a wide-ranging climate policy under the previous government that included carbon pricing, industry assistance and innovation funding, designed to drive emissions reduction across the economy.

As the other measures are stripped away, the RET takes on greater political and public significance - a lonely symbol of our eroding national commitment to tackling global warming.

It's hard to see Australia's path to effective climate policy from this messy point, with a public that's mostly committed to urgent action, a Government determined to wind back the measures we do have and an Opposition burnt by its efforts in office last time around.

Politicians may blame lack of public consensus on climate action for failure to introduce effective policies - but it's the lack of political consensus and bipartisan determination to deal with global warming that has surely proven more damaging.

The one certainty in the climate change debate is that Australia, along with the rest of the world, will inevitably transition to a lower-carbon economy. At this point, whether we make that journey in a coherent way that supports jobs, innovation and consumers looks far from clear.

Peter Lewis is a director of Essential Media Communications. Jackie Woods is a communications consultant at Essential Media Communications.