Environment minister Lawler reveals Government’s draft plan against climate change

THE Territory Labor Government has set itself an ambitious target of zero net emissions by 2050, but has done no modelling of the impact that will have on the NT economy

Solar power among other renewable energy sources could be a large part of the Northern Territory Government’s plan against climate change.

THE Territory Labor Government has set itself an ambitious target of zero net emissions by 2050, but has done no modelling of the impact that will have on the NT economy.

The target is “aspirational”, meaning it won’t be enshrined in law as it is in other jurisdictions including Victoria.

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Environment Minister Eva Lawler said scientific advances meant the zero net emissions milestone could be reached before the 2050 deadline.

“We are seeing science change quickly. I believe we will see a number of changes in the coming years that make sure we get to that target earlier,” she said.

Ms Lawler said Territory was already experiencing the impacts of climate change.

“If we don’t take action now we will be experiencing hotter temperatures, more hot fires. We’ve seen mangrove bleaching. We need to do things now,” she said.

But she stopped short of calling it a climate “emergency”, dismissing the term as “gimmicky”.

Ms Lawler was repeatedly asked if the Government had performed any economic modelling on the impacts of the policy.

She did not provide any details, but said the policy would bring “economic benefits” to the NT through investment in renewables.

“If we don’t do anything, the costs will be unfathomable to Territorians,” she said. She said she had an “open mind” about including nuclear power in the mix to help the NT reach its target, but said nuclear was “highly expensive”.

“We’re focused on renewables and the positive impact of that. The solar debate has been won in Australia,” Ms Lawler said.

“The issue around nuclear — that debate has not been won in Australia. People are concerned around where a nuclear plant would go. We’re a long, long way away from nuclear energy in Australia”.

Environment Centre NT director Shar Molloy welcomed the policy but said she would have liked to see reduction targets legislated, as well as ways to demonstrate how offsets were calculated.

“There’s a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions that need to be offset so we do question how that can happen,” she said.

Ms Molloy said she was also disappointed greenhouse gas emissions would continue to increase in some industries.

The draft policy is available for public comment for six weeks at haveyoursay.nt.gov.au