‘More to do’: 2035 target won’t end climate fight
Andrew Brown, Poppy Johnston and Rachael Ward |
Australia’s latest emissions target is ambitious but achievable, the climate change minister says, but concedes more work needs to be done to tackle the issue.
The federal government unveiled its 2035 climate target on Thursday, which aims to bring emissions down by between 62 and 70 per cent over the next decade, based on 2005 levels.
The target was accompanied by billions of dollars worth of policy announcements with energy, industry and transport expected to do the heavy lifting.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said Australia was punching above its weight in its bid to reduce the impact of climate change, but further efforts were required beyond the 2035 target.
“There’s no doubt there’s more to do,” he told ABC Radio on Friday.
“We are right up there with the most ambitious countries in the world, as we should be, as we need to be, but also, (the target) has to be achievable.”
As part of the measures, $5 billion will be set aside from an existing industry fund for cutting emissions in hard-to-abate heavy industry.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has also been granted a $2 billion top-up to grease the wheels of the renewables transition.
As much as $40 million has also been set aside to install more kerbside chargers to power electric vehicles, with funding also earmarked to help households and businesses cut energy use.
The 2035 target provoked a range of responses, with environmental groups hoping for more ambition while the business sector warned even the lower end of the range would be challenging.
Mr Bowen hit back at claims that the target did not do enough to meet the challenge of climate change.
“With all due respect to those commentators who say we should be doing more, they don’t deliver,” he said.
“The government does and the government has set out yesterday not only a target but a comprehensive plan to help us get there.”
The coalition has criticised the target as unachievable, with Opposition Leader Sussan Ley describing it as a train wreck.
Liberal Senator Jane Hume dismissed suggestions the coalition did not take climate change seriously, following party in-fighting about whether to drop its support for net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Climate change is really absolutely and of course we believe that you should bring down emissions. But the real question is, at what cost,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“We don’t believe that the target that the Labor government announced yesterday is not only going to not achieve those emissions reductions, but it’s going to do so at the cost of taxpayers.”
The Superpower Institute, which has long framed decarbonisation and clean export industries as a major economic opportunity for Australia, warned the nation would struggle to hit the top of its 2035 range under existing policy settings.
“If Australia is to achieve a credible and ambitious emissions reduction target of a minimum of 70 per cent, we need to energise the private sector,” chair of the think tank Rod Sims said.
“The way to do this is to put a price on carbon so that fossil fuel producers pay for the damage their products do to the environment.”
The contribution to global emissions cuts landed days after a diabolical report on Australia’s expected climate impacts, including a warning that 1.5 million people could be exposed to coastal hazards from rising seas by 2050.
AAP
