Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has ruled out bowing to Greens demands to ban new fossil fuel projects under Labor’s cornerstone heavy emissions policy, declaring there will be a vital need for additional gas in coming years.

As coal-fired power stations leave the grid in coming years and the share of renewables sources shifts towards the government’s 82 per cent target by 2030, the remaining 18 per cent of power “will increasingly be focused on gas”, he said.