Climate target set, now for the tricky bit on cutting emissions

Anthony Albanese’s climate change agenda will shift to ­creating two road maps to slash emissions in the transport and ­industrial sectors after his 43 per cent 2030 target became law.

Chris Bowen says ‘we are starting on the journey for a 2030 emissions reduction target in 2022, which is leaving it insanely late’. Picture: Gary Ramage

Anthony Albanese’s climate change agenda will shift to ­creating two road maps to slash emissions in the transport and ­industrial sectors after his 43 per cent 2030 target became law in a momentous parliamentary vote.

The Prime Minister said the Climate Change Act, which also enshrines in law a net-zero by 2050 target, would “provide the energy policy and investment certainty needed to usher in economic growth and opportunity in a decarbonising global economy”.

The bill passed the Senate ­before question time on Thursday after ACT senator David Pocock secured minor amendments, ­including allowing community feedback on the government’s ­annual climate change statement and banning the Australian ­Renewable Energy Agency from investing in “questionable technologies” such as carbon capture and storage.

The amended bill was sent back to the House of Representatives where it won the support of a clear majority of MPs, including the Greens and teal independents.

Ahead of the passage of the bill, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen warned there was a lot of work to be done to ensure Australia lowered emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.

“We have a lot of work to do and we have to do it urgently. We are starting on the journey for a 2030 emissions reduction target in 2022, which is leaving it ­insanely late,” Mr Bowen told a CEDA forum in Parliament House. “Eighty-seven months is not long for a massive transformation in our economy.”

Mr Bowen said the government now needed to put the meat on the bones of key policies to achieve its targets, including through creating a national electric vehicle strategy and reforming the safeguard mechanism to cull emissions from the biggest 215 polluters in the industrial sector.

A consultation paper on low-emission vehicles will be out in the “next few weeks”, while submissions for reforming the safeguard mechanism close on September 20. The policies are set to create a climate fight between the government, the Coalition and the Greens, as Adam Bandt pushes Mr Albanese to break election commitments and show more ambition on the issue.

Regulations or legislation can be blocked in the Senate if they are opposed by both the Coalition and the Greens, which happened in 2009 when Bob Brown joined then opposition leader Tony ­Abbott in voting against the Rudd government’s proposed emissions trading scheme.

Highlighting the task ahead of the Albanese government in meeting its targets, CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall said 40 per cent of the technologies needed to reach to net zero were yet to be invented. These include machines that would remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Dr Marshall labelled the transition to a carbon-neutral future “bigger than anything we have seen in our lifetimes”, including the invention of the internet.

He referenced a 2019 paper published by CSRIO mapping the pathway to net-zero emissions with a 40 per cent carbon reduction by 2030 – similar to the targets legislated by the Albanese government.

“It’s largely the plan that the government has adopted moving forward, which is great because it’s based in science, but it requires us to invent some things to get there,” he told the CEDA conference. “About 40 per cent of the things we need to get to net zero, have to be invented. But this country has the power to invent those things. If you think it’s hard, you’re right.”

Dr Marshall said too many Australian businesses and investors were scared to let go of the traditional strengths in the resources sector, which has propelled economic growth. “But we can actually use science and technology to invent and innovate a much stronger economy, a much better future, but we have to overcome the fear to let go,” he said.

The climate change legislation requires the minister to provide an annual update to parliament on emissions reductions and empowers the independent Climate Change Authority to advise on new targets.

It also embeds the targets into the objectives and functions of major agencies including ARENA, the Clean Energy ­Finance Corporation, Infrastructure Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

Opposition climate change spokesman Ted O’Brien said the legislation was a “direct attack on Australian jobs and the prosperity of our regional communities”.

Energy retailers and generators welcomed the passage of the legislation.

Australian Energy Council chief executive Sarah McNamara said the industry supported the government’s targets.

“Enshrining a policy in legislation gives businesses and industry greater clarity,” she said. “For sectors like electricity, which are already deeply invested in Australia’s decarbonisation journey, policy confidence is critical to the sector’s orderly transition.”

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the bill would “secure the planning, investment and innovation that will underlie an efficient energy transition”

The proposed reforms to the safeguard mechanism will create new emission caps for industrial users – including coalmines and gas developments – in line with the government’s 43 per cent 2030 target.

The reforms would largely be done through regulation, with the Greens threatening to use the Senate to disallow any of Labor’s changes if they did not go far enough to quickly cut emissions.