As Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce parade their way towards a fraudulent ‘2050’ climate deal that includes the expansion of coal and gas, the Liberal and National parties’ refusal to lift 2030 targets sets Australia on course to fail the Paris Agreement temperature goals. 

The primary aim of the Glasgow climate summit is to lift 2030 targets. World leaders including Joe Biden and Boris Johnson have pressed Australia and other countries to lift 2030 targets.

The independent Climate Targets Panel, headed by former Liberal Party Leader, John Hewson, has today made it clear that a ‘net zero by 2050’ target is not enough because Australia would still blow its carbon budget unless its 2030 target was up to tripled.

Australia’s ‘fair share’ target, in line with the Paris goal of 1.5 degrees of warming, should be 74% by 2030. That’s the finding of the independent Climate Targets Panel, based on Climate Change Authority methodology. 

As the climate corner that Scott Morrison has painted himself into grows smaller, the Greens say any attempt to spin 2030 targets that are neither legislated nor submitted at Glasgow as a binding NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) will only invite ridicule and slow down global climate progress.

The international pressure is building on Australia ahead of Glasgow to join every other developed nation who will submit updated, increased 2030 targets at the conference. 

Energy Minister, Angus Taylor, in a bid to help the Morrison government secure a net-zero 2050 target with the National Party has promised more gas and coal exports, exposing the Morrison target as a fraud that won’t reduce emissions in the critical decade, if ever.

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt called 2050 targets that involve an expansion of coal and gas ‘a fraud and a death sentence to regional Australia’. The Greens’ target, in line with the Paris goal of 1.5 degrees of warming, is a legislated  75% cut by 2030 and net-zero by 2035.

With Energy Security Board chairman Kerry Schott’s predicting that the grid could be without coal-fired power as in the early 2030’s, the Greens will move when Parliament resumes for a legally binding thermal coal phase out by 2030, arguing that without a planned transition, workers and coal communities will suffer disruption and uncertainty.

The Greens will give notice of a ‘Quit Coal’ bill when Parliament resumes next week with a legislated timetable for phasing out of thermal coal exports by 2030. 

The Greens have slammed the Nationals’ proposed $250 billion publicly funded coal and gas bank as robbing public money to chase stranded assets for Nationals donors. 

“The Nationals are holding our country to ransom. They want a quarter of a trillion dollars to fund assets even the big banks won’t touch because they’re too dangerous, too deadly and will send anyone who lends them money broke,” Mr Bandt said.

“Barnaby Joyce is trying to lock the public into supporting coal projects no one else will touch with a ten foot pole.

The Greens say they do not trust the government to deliver green hydrogen instead of toxic methane, and that there are better ways to turn Australia into a green hydrogen superpower than handouts to billionaires. 

Energy Minister, Angus Taylor, announced a $30 million dollar taxpayer funded grant for a new methane gas-fired power plant.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP has called on the Prime Minister to take heed of the UK Cabinet’s demands of Australia, calling him a ‘coward’ for trying to avoid the upcoming climate summit.

Today, COP26 President and UK Cabinet Minister Alok Sharma has reportedly called upon the Prime Minister to attend the Glasgow Summit, and to bring updated 2030 targets of 45-50% with him.

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, says the Liberal government in NSW has exposed the complete failure on a federal level to engage with the real targets debate ahead of Glasgow - 2030.

The Glasgow summit will focus on countries lifting their 2030 targets and increasing short-term ambition.
 
While the government’s 2030 target has been internationally condemned as woefully insufficient, Labor has no 2030 target at all.