‘We’re not going to streak ahead’: Nationals officially dump net zero climate target

5 hours ago 5

The Nationals have scrapped their commitment to the net zero by 2050 climate target and will instead aim to bring down Australia’s carbon emissions in line with the rest of the world.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said his MPs had come to a unanimous position as he announced the new policy following a party room meeting in Canberra on Sunday.

“We continue to believe that we need to reduce emissions, but we’ve got to do it in a better, fairer, cheaper way for all Australians,” Littleproud said.

National Party Leader David Littleproud addressing Federal Council at the National Press Club in Canberra.

“We believe that we can peg ourselves to the rest of the world. We’re not going to be a laggard, but we’re not going to streak ahead.”

Littleproud said the Nationals’ decision was about “bringing common sense back to climate and energy policy”.

“This is about saying we’re going to live up to our commitments internationally. We’re going to do that sensibly, but we’re going to do what they’re doing at their pace, not streak ahead,” he said.

“And so what I want to do is show today some leadership. There’ll be arguments that we’re climate deniers and we’ve been left behind. That doesn’t advance the intellectual debate in this country at all.”

The new Nationals position has been informed by policy research done by Senator Matt Canavan and Senator Ross Caddell, as well as a report by Nationals-aligned think tank the Page Research Centre. The junior Coalition party decided to revisit net zero after the May election.

The Page report, which was briefed at the Nationals meeting, recommended ditching net zero as a target “because it puts achieving an emissions goal ahead of improving the living standards of Australians”. “We should reduce emissions in line with comparable nations, not ahead of them,” it said.

The report recommended adopting a “practical emissions trajectory” of 2 to 9 million tonnes in reductions per year.

This would involve maintaining the current pace of emissions reduction, at its maximum: Australia has averaged 9 million tonnes of carbon reductions each year since 2020.

Under the Albanese government’s plans, this must increase to 16 million tonnes a year to achieve the 2030 target, and rise again to 27 million tonnes a year to hit the 2035 goal.

Littleproud said he had called Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to inform her of the Nationals position.

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