Nationals council ditches net zero from policy platform
Poppy Johnston, Tess Ikonomou and Tom Wark |
Party faithful have voted to ditch net zero from the Nationals’ platform as their elected leaders prepare to make a final call on the foundational climate policy.
In a widely expected move, the party’s federal council voted on Saturday to walk away from the pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
A subsequent motion to walk away from the Paris Agreement, the global pact to limit warming to 1.5C above industrial levels, was withdrawn.
While the net-zero vote is non-binding for Nationals MPs, they look set to follow suit, with a party room meeting on Sunday to discuss climate and energy policy.
Leader David Littleproud said no predetermined position had been taken ahead of deliberations but net zero was “not the only way to actually address climate change”.
“We’re going to make sure that as the rest of the world is pivoting and understanding that the completion of net zero is very difficult, that Australia doesn’t expose itself to an uncompetitive position,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Under the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, the world needs to be drawing down and storing greenhouse gas emissions at the same rate it is producing them by 2050, known as net zero.
Members must also set interim emissions cuts that are renewed every five years and cannot water them down.
The United States has pulled out of the Paris Agreement under the leadership of President Donald Trump but the vast majority of signatory nations remain committed.
Net-zero policy has become a fractious issue within the federal coalition following its disastrous May election defeat, with Liberal MPs meeting on Friday to discuss their climate and energy platform.
Mr Littleproud cited “similarities in terms of policy and intent” between the positions of the Liberals and the Nationals, based on his conversations with energy spokesman Dan Tehan and the opposition leader.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the coalition’s energy policy would not simply prioritise an emissions target.
“As I have said from the beginning … we’re not going to accept the government’s net zero at any cost,” she said on Friday.
Speaking from South Korea, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was getting on with the transition to net zero unperturbed by coalition ructions.
“I’ll allow people to watch that circus and to make their own decisions,” he told reporters.
The Labor government remains committed to net zero and is chasing an interim target of 62-70 per cent emissions cuts by 2035.
A target of 82 per cent of electricity sourced from renewables by 2030 is key to meeting climate goals.
The steep economic costs of unchecked climate change have also been tallied in Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment, released in September.
AAP
