Australia's Oppn proposes 'ambitious' greenhouse emissions target if voted to power

The Center-left Labour Party leader of Australia, Anthony Albanese on Friday announced that it would set a more ambitious target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by the end of the decade if his government is voted in next year. The proposal of the new climate policy as a battle line at elections comes as Australia is set to hold its votes to choose a new Prime Minister between March and May in 2022. Taking a jibe at PM Scott Morrison, Albanese asserted that a change of government would mean Australia would not be in the "naughty corner" in the next international climate summit, the Associated reported.

It is pertinent to mention that Australian PM Scott Morrison was widely lambasted at the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow over his government's target of reducing Australia's emission by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030, while other wealthy countries vowed for deeper cuts in a bid to abide by the Paris Agreement of maintaining temperature rise to 1.5° Celcius.

"We think that we’ve got absolutely the balance right because one of the things that I wanted to make sure is that we have a policy that doesn’t leave people behind, that supports industry, that supports jobs," Albanese said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Morrison warns rise in electricity prices, job loss

Noting the commitments of the opposition leader, PM Morrison said that Labour Party's target would increase electricity prices and cost jobs. Emphasising that Australia is on its way to achieve Net Zero by 2050, Morrison added, "We’re not on our way to drive people out of their jobs and force up their electricity price.”

However, around mid-November, PM Morrison told reporters that he had no plans to revise his carbon emissions policy, under which he had pledged to achieve a 35% reduction in emissions by 2030. "That is what we are going to achieve and that is what actually matters,” Morrison was quoted as saying by The Guardian. His assertions were echoed by Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce who highlighted that Australia was "happy" with its current targets.

Australia triggered outrage at COP26

It is to be noted that leaders from 194 countries met at the United Nations Climate Summit (COP26) pledging to bring down carbon emissions by the end of the decade. The participating countries also signed the 'Glasgow Pact' that requested all countries to re-assess and bolster efforts towards achieving the 2030 targets, as stipulated in the Paris Agreement, in next year COP27 to be held in Egypt.

Australia triggered outrage from climate activists after it refused to rehash it's plans concerning carbon emissions and decided to stick to its previous target of 2030 emissions reduction. Speaking to Sky News, NSW Liberal MP Dave Sharma has said that Australia should consider at least a 40% to 45% reduction by 2035. He was parroted by other moderate leaders, including Katie Allen, Trent Zimmerman and Jason Falinski.

(With inputs from AP, Image: AP/Unsplash)