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The federal government says it has "drawn a line" under a decade of slow action on climate change, with it formally committing to the United Nations it will pursue a substantially more ambitious emissions reduction target.
Australia's Paris Agreement commitment will now be to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, and to net zero emissions by 2050.
The previous government had refused to raise its ambitions above a 28 per cent 2030 target, which it set in 2015 — it signed on to a net zero target at the UN's climate conference last year.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen says with the new commitment, "Australia turns the climate corner".
"A decade of denial and delay is a decade too long," Mr Bowen said.
"We've drawn a line under it, we're getting on with. That is what we were asked to do by the Australian people."
Labor committed to the more ambitious target before the election, and it was endorsed by business and environmental groups.
But climate scientists have said it will still fall short of what is necessary to limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, the commitment made under the Paris Agreement.
And the 43 per cent target is less ambitious than what Labor argued for in previous years, which was to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by the decade's end.
Federal climate change policies have been the source of bitter fighting between and within the major parties, and debate over climate policy has directly or indirectly led to leadership spills on both sides of the aisle.
In the case of Australia's action — or inaction — on climate change, the science has something to say.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the new target was an opportunity to end the "climate wars".
"[This is] an opportunity to reach for solutions, not arguments. An opportunity to provide the certainty going forward so we get that investment," Mr Albanese said.
One of the key levers the new government intends to use to lower emissions is a strengthened "safeguard mechanism", which sets an emissions cap on big polluters and requires them to pay to offset their emissions if they go over the cap.
Mr Albanese said investment in renewables was also the path to solving the nation's energy crisis, which has threatened rolling blackouts on the east coast and led to soaring electricity prices.
Posted Thu 16 Jun 2022 at 12:44am Thursday 16 Jun 2022 at 12:44am Thu 16 Jun 2022 at 12:44am , updated Thu 16 Jun 2022 at 2:11am Thursday 16 Jun 2022 at 2:11am Thu 16 Jun 2022 at 2:11am
