Nationals Members Reject Net Zero Commitment, Sparking Climate Policy Debate

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The Nationals are expected to ditch support for net zero after grassroots members voted to remove the emissions-reduction target.

A motion backing the move was passed at the party’s annual federal council meeting in Canberra on Saturday, paving the way for the policy to be dumped at a party room meeting on Sunday.

A subsequent motion to walk away from the Paris Agreement, the global pact to limit warming to 1.5C above industrial levels, was withdrawn.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said his party believed in reducing emissions “but not at any cost”.

“We’re not walking away from reducing emissions, but we can do it a better, fairer, cheaper way,” he said.

“As the global landscape shifts towards achieving net-zero emissions, we are determined to ensure Australia remains competitive,” a spokesperson remarked in Canberra, emphasizing the need for strategic adaptation.

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This strategy involves safeguarding pivotal sectors like mining, agriculture, and manufacturing by adopting a diverse energy portfolio, which includes coal, gas, and renewable resources.

It also called for the lifting of a federal moratorium on nuclear energy, which was introduced by former prime minister John Howard in 1998.

The net-zero target has remained a key sticking point within the Coalition as the Liberal Party undertakes an energy policy review following its disastrous May election defeat.

Under the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, the world needs to be drawing down and storing greenhouse gas emissions at the same rate it is producing them by 2050, known as net zero.

Additionally, there is a requirement for members to establish interim emissions reduction targets, which must be reviewed and renewed every five years, without any possibility of weakening them.

“As I have consistently maintained, we will not endorse the government’s net-zero objectives at any cost,” she stated on Friday.

Opposition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan said the Liberals were likely to finalise their position six to nine months after the federal election, meaning a decision would likely come between November and January.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley said the Coalition’s energy policy would not simply prioritise an emissions target.

“As I have said from the beginning … we’re not going to accept the government’s net zero at any cost,” she said on Friday.

Speaking from South Korea, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was getting on with the transition to net zero unperturbed by Coalition ructions.

“I’ll allow people to watch that circus and to make their own decisions,” he told reporters.

The Labor government remains committed to net zero and is chasing an interim target of 62-70 per cent emissions cuts by 2035.

A target of 82 per cent of electricity sourced from renewables by 2030 is key to meeting climate goals.