The Liberal Party has sided with the Nationals’ decision to scrap their commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. What does this mean for electricity bills and the climate?
On Thursday, the Liberal Party announced their official withdrawal from Australia’s net zero emissions targets.
During a lengthy party room meeting on Wednesday, a majority of members agreed to follow the National Party’s decision to renounce support for the commitment.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley said that if elected, the Liberals would "remove the 2030 target and the net zero by 2050 target from the Climate Change Act".
"We will have an energy and emissions policy driven by two key objectives: affordable and reliable power, and responsible emissions reductions," she said.
What is 'net zero'?
Net zero emissions refers to the target whereby all the greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity is equal to the amount we remove from the atmosphere.
In 2023, Australia emitted 465 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the most significant greenhouse gas. Energy production is the largest contributor to our carbon emissions, according to the CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.
Aside from reducing emissions, methods such as reforestation and carbon capture technologies can be used to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
However, because of the limitations of carbon capture, achieving net zero by 2050 would require a major shift away from our reliance on fossil fuels and a transition to renewable energy sources.
The net zero commitment was set by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal government in 2021. The emissions targets are part of Australia’s adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which is an international treaty that aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
How did we get here?
Earlier this month, Nationals leader David Littleproud told the ABC's Radio National Breakfast that his party’s unanimous decision to ditch net zero was based on "lived experience". He pointed to rising power prices and the "$9 trillion cost [of net zero] … that will put things like Medicare and NDIS at risk".
Littleproud proposed his party’s "aspiration" to reduce emissions by 30 to 40 per cent by 2035, well below the government’s current goal to reduce emissions by 62 to 70 per cent.
On Wednesday, the Liberals held a party room meeting to form a consensus between the divided moderate and conservative members.
Ley faced pressure from party members on both sides of the issue, while tensions within the Coalition echoed the infighting over nuclear energy policies that caused their brief split earlier this year.
After five hours of debate, the Liberals agreed to scrap net zero while continuing to uphold the Paris Agreement.
Would ditching net zero bring electricity prices down?
A report by the Nationals-aligned Page Research Centre concluded that "electricity and gas prices have increased by around 40 per cent"since the net zero targets were established.
"Australians deserve affordable energy and responsible emissions reduction, and the Liberal Party believes we can do both. But affordable energy must come first", Ley said.
Energy systems analyst at the University of New South Wales Dr Dylan McConnell told the Guardian that the surge in energy prices in recent years has been due to external factors, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
McConnell said that only about $100 of a household’s annual electricity bill can be attributed to environmental programs related to net zero targets such as financial incentives for renewables projects.
How would this impact climate change?
According to climate models, current emissions trends are not sufficient to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Abandoning net zero and Australia’s other climate targets could increase our climate pollution by 6.3 billion tonnes more over the next 25 years compared to current targets, according to the Climate Council.
The Climate Council said that if global emission trends continue, Australia would face a "future of relentless disasters and economic upheaval". It warned there would be "four times the number of severe and extreme heatwave days, 1.5 million Australians exposed to coastal flooding by 2050 and three million people by 2090, and double the number of extreme fire days".
