Peter Dutton won’t quit Paris agreement and net zero

Peter Dutton will not leave the Paris agreement and is committed to the Coalition’s net zero by 2050 pledge.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Damian Shaw

Peter Dutton will not leave the Paris climate change agreement and remains committed to the Coalition’s pledge of net zero by 2050, despite attempts by the Albanese government to wedge Liberal and Nationals MPs over near-term emissions reduction targets.

The Australian understands that instead of promising unachievable 2030 and 2035 targets, the Coalition will argue detailed modelling and economic impact assessments must be conducted before committing to interim goals on the road to net zero.

With Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen launching scare campaigns over nuclear power and the Paris accord, Mr Dutton on Sunday promised to “deliver a sensible and measured energy policy, which will be cheaper, consistent and cleaner electricity”.

“If we do that we will grow the economy – not shrink it like Labor is doing,” Mr Dutton said.

“There will be a big difference between the Prime Minister and I at the next election. Mr Albanese and Minister Bowen will be promising higher electricity prices, blackouts and an energy policy that will drive manufacturing and jobs offshore.

“As prime minister I will work day and night to bring power prices down and to make electricity reliable and cleaner. Labor is slowly wrecking the economy.”

As the government ramps up pressure on Mr Dutton to release his election policy, the Coalition is not putting a timetable on unveiling one of its key election planks. While the policy is “well advanced”, the Coalition is not committing to releasing it imminently.

Opposition energy and climate spokesman Ted O’Brien told The Australian “the Coalition’s position remains unchanged”.

“We remain committed to Paris and to net zero. Any shorter-term targets will be informed by the state of the economy, the trajectory of emissions and our suite of policies,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Nobody believes Labor will achieve its 43 per cent target by 2030 and we do not want to be associated with Chris Bowen’s false prophecies saying otherwise.”

In an interview with The Weekend Australian, Mr Dutton said the Coalition would oppose Labor’s 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 because there was “no sense in signing up to targets you don’t have any prospect of achieving”.

Future Fund chairman and former Labor minister Greg Combet, who plans to step up investment in renewable energy, cautioned that any pullback on a 2030 target could damage investment returns for green projects.

“Any policy that undermines replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy will likely impact the investment case for renewable energy projects,” Mr Combet told The Australian.

Mr Bowen accused the Coalition of preparing to leave the Paris accord and join “Libya, Yemen and Iran”.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is leading Labor’s attacks on Peter Dutton’s plans to back nuclear power. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

“The Paris accord is crystal clear. There can be no backsliding. If you reduce your target, then you’re in breach of the Paris accord,” he said.

“The next election will be a referendum on energy policy. We agree that energy policy is economic policy. But when Peter Dutton is so intent on a fantasy nuclear unicorn, he is risking not only Australia’s emissions reductions targets … but he’s also very much risking job creating investment in Australia.”

Senior moderate Liberals on Sunday backed Mr Dutton’s commitments to remain in the Paris agreement, support net zero by 2050 and pursue nuclear energy technologies. “A lot of us thought nuclear power is our point of difference with Labor on energy and it’s a fight worth having … Labor set the targets and it’s up to them to meet them,” one said.

Another Liberal moderate said it would be “disastrous” for the Coalition to pull out of Paris because “people would think we’ve learnt nothing and haven’t modernised as a party”.

“We don’t need to be having an argument over targets that Labor set. We should say this is our plan on energy and the pressure is on Labor to meet their own targets. As far as we’d want to go is to say we’d review all of these targets if and when we’re in government. Don’t create a point of difference to campaign against us … keep the onus on them. We don’t need to provide that level of detail yet.”

Mr Dutton has resisted pressure from some conservative Coalition MPs to dump net zero and consider quitting the Paris agreement if Donald Trump wins the US election in November and abandons the global pact.