Contributing ambitiously to global emissions reduction

It is no exaggeration to say that humanity's long-term survival depends on the drastic reduction of global emissions. If we do not achieve net zero by 2050 and limit warming to within two degrees, the consequences would be catastrophic. Our planet could become uninhabitable. And there is no Planet B.

Preventing ecocide can only succeed as a collective effort. No matter how insignificant each country may feel, we are ultimately in the same glasshouse. Every state's emissions contribute to warming. And there is no room in the carbon budget for any of us not to pull their slack.

From this, two things follow. The first is that Australia's small share of global emissions can be no excuse for foot-dragging or inaction when it comes to reducing our net contribution. The second and more challenging implication is that our collective survival hinges on the developing world's decarbonisation, too.

The last point naturally raises issues of climate justice. For as much as it is necessary, there is an inequity in expecting developing economies to sacrifice their progress to bail out a problem caused largely by the Global North. That cannot become a reason not to decarbonise—ultimately, people in the developing world stand the most to lose if we do not. But it must calibrate how we go about it.

Fairness demands two things specifically: that wealthy nations shoulder an equitable share of the developing world's transition costs; and that the costs which are borne by developing countries are far outweighed by the direct economic benefits they enjoy from transitioning.

Fortunately, what fairness demands benefits us as well—we reduce our own exposure to climate risk if we accelerate and incentivise other states' emissions reduction. In that sense, we have an enlightened self-interest in supporting a just and inclusive energy transition.

We cannot, of course, bring it about alone—as much as we depend on it happening. Still, there are national levers we must pull and international efforts we can and should try to influence. As part of our efforts to do both, Australia will:

Legislate ambitious emissions reduction targets. Australia will legally enshrine the targets to achieve net-zero by 2050, and 50% emissions reduction by 2030. We will also specifically preclude the counting of carry-over credits under the Kyoto Protocol towards these targets.

Develop a comprehensive net-zero strategy. The federal government will lead the immediate effort to develop this strategy, which would chart the technical pathway to achieving our emissions reduction targets in the fastest, least-cost way. To operationalise the strategy in the first instance, the government will fully fund and deliver a five-year implementation plan.

Work towards a whole-of-nation climate policy framework. Looking slightly further, the federal government will advocate that the Commonwealth and States and Territories join in adopting recurrent, joint implementation plans in support of the net-zero strategy. This new structure would help to overcome the federal system's disaggregated and often uncoordinated governance: instead, we would see the Commonwealth and States—in a single, shared framework—mutually agree on collective goals, respective duties, and integrated planning and funding arrangements. The idea is to nationally unify our progress towards net-zero, rather than run separate, sub-national races at the policy level.

Establish an independent government agency responsible for emissions reduction planning. To support the proposed state-federal policy model, we plan to establish an independent, expert planning authority (much like existing state infrastructure bodies) that develops the integrated national plans for governments then to adopt. That would help overcome much of the political bargaining and buckpassing that stall federal and state climate policy.

Champion ambitious emissions reduction targets in international forums. In light of our planned domestic step-up on climate action, Australia will seek to rally the international community to adopt, in sync, more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.

Work to phase out fossil fuel exports. Although the emissions from Australia's energy exports are nationally accounted elsewhere, they make up a notable proportion of global emissions. Australia's share of global CO2 emissions would rise from roughly 1% to 4.5% if we took responsibility for emissions from our coal and gas exports. Given we control the policy levers over this significant source of emissions, we can and should work to scale down Australia's fossil-fuel exports. Yet a crucial qualification applies: all else is never equal. That is to say, phasing out our fossil fuel exports in the wrong way could simply see our trade partners substitute them with even more pollutive sources (gas with coal; or black coal with brown). Thus, to induce a real net reduction in global emissions, we have to ensure that any measures to phase-out coal exports are first, careful and patient; and second, go hand-in-hand with efforts to make clean alternatives more affordable and available.

Help increase global access to renewable energy. As follows from the above, it is crucial that we help to make renewables more competitive and available as a fossil-fuel substitute. For more on how we plan to do so regionally, read initiative 2.4.2 (regional > environmental). In terms of our international efforts more broadly, we will lobby other partners and groupings to similarly promote clean energy in other parts of the world, including through programs such as the Build Back Better World initiative.

Support the development of fair and effective international voluntary and offset carbon markets. Emissions trading can, in theory, be a highly effective way of incentivising the global energy transition. This is particularly true in the case of voluntary markets in developing countries, which can help fund the adoption of practices or technologies that reduce emissions. To work in practice, however, voluntary and offset markets need to embed the principle of additionality; that is, it must induce emissions reduction beyond that which would have occurred. Otherwise, it simply rewards entities for doing what they were going to do anyway; or worse, pays them to pollute on someone else's behalf. In light of this, Australia will lead international efforts to ensure that additionality considerations are rigorously integrated in emissions trading schemes.

Rally developed countries to join in meeting the Copenhagen climate finance pledge. At the Copenhagen climate conference, developed countries committed to provide $100 billion in annual climate finance to the developing world. To do our part in achieving the pledge, we will step up our provision of climate finance assistance to developing countries, ensuring our contributions towards the $100 billion target are proportionally equivalent to our share of the developed world's GDP. Meanwhile, to ensure we achieve the collective target, we will increase diplomatic pressure on other pledged countries to similarly contribute their fair share.