The Australian government has released it’s Net Zero Plan, guiding Australia’s transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Net Zero Plan identifies how Australia can achieve a fair and orderly transition to net zero that builds on our strengths, and ensures all Australians benefit.
Australia has pledged to reduce its emissions by 62 – 70% in 2035 compared to 2005 levels. This target range was recommended by the Climate Change Authority in its advice to the Government, which also stated its belief that achieving even the lower end of the target range ‘won’t be easy’.
The Net Zero Plan sets out its preferred pathway towards net zero. It emphasises scaling up of renewable electricity supply, increasing energy efficiency and electrification, expanding use of other clean fuels, commercialising new technologies, and increasing carbon sequestration. Under the plan, most emissions reduction comes from the electricity sector up to 2035, and through an increasingly large amount of carbon removals to 2050 through reforestation and other land sector activities.
More modest reductions are expected in resources and industry, particularly in the agricultural sector. The National Farmer’s Federation noted in response to the Climate Change Authority Issues Paper, agricultural decarbonisation must be achieved with the sector, not imposed. The NFF believes that action on climate change is necessary to ensure food security, however action on climate change must not come at the expense of food security. While the NFF supports an economy wide aspiration of net zero by 2050, it cannot be net zero for agriculture.
Similarly, the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute warned that reliance on land sector offsets does not place Australian industry on a trajectory towards decarbonisation and prospering in a low-emissions economy.
To support the release of the Net Zero 2050 target, the Government has announced spending of $1.1 billion on low carbon fuels, provision of an additional $2 billion in equity to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and quarantining $5 billion of the National Reconstruction Fund’s capital for a new ‘Net Zero fund’ to support scale-up of low emissions technologies.
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