Set ‘ambitious’ emissions reduction target in stone: unions tell Labor

Green groups and unions have seized on a ‘horror story’ climate assessment to pressure Labor into adopting Australia's most aggressive emissions reduction target yet.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Unions have used the release of a doomsday report on the impact of climate change to urge Anthony Albanese to adopt an “ambitious” 2035 emissions reduction target enshrined in legislation, as green groups ramp up demands for a ­target above 70 per cent.

With some union leaders ­already calling for a 2035 target of 75 per cent, ACTU president ­Michele O’Neil said the National Climate Risk Assessment showed “truly devastating consequences ... will result if we do not act with urgency”.

While Climate Change and ­Energy Minister Chris Bowen has downplayed the need to legislate a 2035 target, which will be announced by the end of the week, Ms O’Neil said the report “reinforces the need for an ambitious legislated 2035 emissions target”.

“Reducing emissions in line with the science is the only way to keep temperatures manageable for all workers and their communities,” she said. Ms O’Neil said the government could fund more ambitious climate action by “clawing back the billions of dollars Australian taxpayers fork over to giant coal and gas companies every year in the form of the Petroleum Rent Resource Tax and the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme”.

Greens leader Larissa Waters said the government needed to adopt a net zero by 2035 target, whole teal MPs pushed for a 2035 target of 75 per cent. “The climate crisis is a risk to our safety, to nature, and to our economy and productivity,” Senator Waters said. “This report must be a wake-up call for Labor ahead of their 2035 climate target decision.

“Anything less than net zero by 2035 puts Australia on track for more than 2C warming.”

Teal Warringah MP Zali Steggall accused the government of “hypocrisy” over approving the North West Shelf gas project and releasing an alarming report about the impacts of climate change.

“Our communities cannot be left carrying the cost of climate disasters while climate polluters are let off the hook,” she said. “These reports must now be matched with legislated and co-ordinated ­investment to reduce risks and protect local communities.”

The Australian Conservation Foundation — to be led by former Greens leader Adam Bandt — said the report demanded a steep 2035 emissions reduction target as part of an “emergency response” from Labor.

“Children’s mental and physical health is being affected already and those impacts are getting worse,” said ACF acting chief executive Paul Sinclair. “This risk assessment must be a wake-up call for the Albanese government.”

The Australian Academy of Science said it is “now clear that a much earlier net-zero emissions date than 2050 is needed”.

“The academy continues to support an emissions reduction target of 74 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, with net-zero emissions reached by 2035,” a spokesman said.

The Climate Council similarly said the “horror story” presented in the government report meant there needed to be an “immediate course correction”.

Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said it necessitated “the strongest possible 2035 climate target” and an end to “new polluting projects”.

“Scientific analysis shows that even a 75 per cent cut by 2035 would align with global heating of over 2C. That would be very painful for many Australians, increasing the numbers of communities exposed to flooding, and catastrophic impacts for our farmers, fisheries and reefs,” Ms McKenzie said.

Greenpeace spokesman Simon Bradshaw said the “extremely confronting report” had presented the Albanese government with a “duty to protect” the public and a failure to do so would leave a “shameful legacy”.

“It must respond to this report by setting a strong, science-aligned climate target of net-zero emissions by 2035, and committing to a timeline for the fast, fair phase-out of fossil fuels, including gas,” Dr Bradshaw said.