James Campbell: Anthony Albanese puts climate change back on election agenda

Ambitious climate targets have lost elections for the ALP since 2007, so Anthony Albanese’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43pc in the next decade is a bold move, writes James Campbell.

Times change.

Back in 2020, Anthony Albanese thought it was a mistake to go to the last election with a promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 because it was too ambitious.

Now he’s asking us to vote for cuts of 43 per cent over the same period.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has unveiled the ALP’s climate targets. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

To be fair, Scott Morrison has moved closer to Labor’s position by pledging Australia to net zero by 2050.

But history shows that every time Labor puts a more ambitious climate target to the public it has failed to win a majority since 2007.

The government can’t believe its luck.

Since the Prime Minister came back from Glasgow, the fear was Labor would minimise the differences between them.

Albo’s bet that this time it will be different is based on two assumptions.

The first is a simple and touching faith that things have changed and the public is now ready for a more ambitious target.

This is tied to a belief that climate policy wasn’t why Labor lost last time.

Albo is also assuming the traditional climate change negative — “this is going to cost you money” — can be turned to a positive by modelling which shows power bills will be cheaper if we move more quickly to renewables.

The ALP is also banking on selling a bright future in which these renewables generate hundreds of thousands good well-paying jobs.

The government will argue Labor’s modelling is junk, that it assumes the continuing existence of the coal-fired power stations, which will go out of business if renewables are turbo-charged and there is no way the biggest emitters can achieve cuts without it costing jobs or money.

Either way, climate change will back as an election issue next year.