Australia’s Liberal Party, the conservative opposition party, is abandoning the net-zero by 2050 target and will remove it from the country’s Climate Change Act if elected, the party leaders announced on Thursday.
The Liberal Party, which was crushed by the Labour Party in this year’s general election, vowed to remain in the Paris Agreement and work on slashing Australia’s emissions, but without sacrificing household prosperity for the sake of reaching net zero.
“Our emissions reduction goals will never come at the expense of Australian families and this is the principle that will guide every decision we take,”
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said, as carried by ABC News.
“We remain committed to Paris and we made it very clear — it isn’t our policy to set long-term targets, but net zero would be a welcome outcome,” Ley added.
The Liberals would also repeal the interim 2030 targets if elected, decided the leaders of the party, which has been out of office since 2022.
The opposition’s change of heart comes less than two months after the Australian government of the ruling Labour Party set a 2035 emissions target, an interim goal on the road to net zero by 2050. The government set a national target to reduce emissions by 62–70% below 2005 levels by 2035.
This target is ambitious, achievable, and in Australia’s national interests, the cabinet led by Anthony Albanese said in September.
To achieve this target, Australia will build on existing policies to support industry to lower emissions with the Safeguard Mechanism, build a more resilient economy powered by clean energy, offer more choices in fuel-efficient and zero emissions vehicles with the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, and help Australians join the clean energy transition with the Cheaper Home Batteries Program.
Despite the push to net zero, Australia continues to back major oil and gas projects to ensure adequate domestic gas output as supply in major consuming areas is often strained at peak demand periods.
