US Election: Scott Morrison told to follow Joe Biden on climate

Scott Morrison should be ‘spurred’ to commit to a net-zero emissions target by 2050, industry chief says.

Democratice nominee Joe Biden and former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney, NSW, in 2016. Picture: Toby Zerna

The likely election of Joe Biden as US president should “spur” Scott Morrison to commit to a net-zero emissions target by 2050, says Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox, as city-based Liberal MPs hold firm in backing the government’s climate change strategy.

Mr Willox, whose peak business body represents thousands of employers in sectors such as manufacturing and construction, said the case for the 2050 commitment had become stronger as more of Australia’s trading partners adopted the target.

“The case for adopting an Australian goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 was already strong, given the climate impacts we face and the falling costs of solutions,” Mr Willox said. “The fact that most of our biggest trading partners are adopting net zero — China, Japan, South Korea, the EU, the UK, and now the potential of a Biden-led USA — should spur Australia not just to do likewise, but to reposition our economy to thrive in a net-zero emissions world.”

Mr Biden went to the election promising to rejoin the Paris Agreement, hit net-zero emissions “no later than 2050” and an emissions-neutral electricity sector by 2035.

The Prime Minister has resisted committing to a net-zero emissions target, which is supported by Labor, all the states and territories, and more than 70 countries.

The government instead has outlined a technology roadmap with an implicit goal of hitting the target in the second half of the century.

The Australian reported on Thursday that Anthony Albanese was preparing to use a change in US leaders to frame the Morrison government as a global outlier on climate change action.

But a group of pro-climate Liberal MPs, who call themselves “Modern Liberals”, have defended Mr Morrison’s policies and said there does not need to be a change in approach from the government.

Mackellar MP Jason Falinski, from the NSW Moderate faction, said “Biden’s approach is largely in line with ours”.

“We are signed up to Paris, we have got a plan to meet our Paris targets, his $US2 trillion Green New Deal has all the sorts of subsidies Australia has had in place for a long time,” Mr Falinski said.

“The technology roadmap is the correct policy framework through which we need to look at meeting our international obligations, and the way the states and territories can feed into a proper national policy around meeting their targets of net-zero by 2050.”

Goldstein MP Tim Wilson said the Morrison government should remain committed to the policies “voted for by the Australian people at the last election”.

“A 2030 target with a practical plan to reduce emissions across all sectors, not one voted on by the American people,” he said.

NSW senator Andrew Bragg said the government’s climate change policies were “good”.

“We are on track to meet and beat (the 2030 target) and the targets beyond that will be set in due course,” he said. “We actually have a good plan now. We are ­beyond all the culture war stuff.”

Wentworth MP Dave Sharma said it would be a welcome development for the US to rejoin Paris.

“It has always been our view that you can’t address climate change unless all the major emitters are involved,” Mr Sharma said. “Beyond that, we know that countries need to make commitments beyond 2030 ... and we will be a constructive part of that discussion.

“Let’s see what the US brings to the table beyond 2030 and we will be thinking about our commitments beyond 2030 as well.”

However, one Liberal MP, who did not want to be named, said a change in US president would put more pressure on the government to adopt a net-zero emissions target by next year’s United Nations climate conference in Glasgow.