World delegates have agreed on a new climate action deal after hard fought negotiations and just days after the federal government released its net zero modelling.
A new deal on climate action has been reached after two weeks of negotiations between governments from almost 200 countries.
The Glasgow Climate Pact, which came more than 24 hours after Friday afternoon’s deadline, was sealed by Cop26 president Alok Sharma in Glasgow.
It will agree to reduce coal, the worst fossil fuel for greenhouse gases.
The deal also presses for more urgent emission cuts and promises more money for developing countries – to help them adapt to climate impacts as warming-driven disasters increase around the world.
But the deal has raised questions about whether it will be enough to keep alive the target of the 2015 Paris goal, limiting temperature rises to 1.5C.
India threw in a curve ball at the last-minute during negotiations, seeking to change the wording around the phasing out of fossil fuels.
It drew complaints from nations wanting stronger action on cutting emissions from coal.
But on Sunday morning, all 197 nations agreed on the major climate deal.
Two weeks of hard-fought negotiations triggered protesters to descend on the Scottish city of Glasgow to keep up the pressure on world leaders.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the summit last week, outlining the country’s plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
He told world leaders that driving down the costs of low- and no-emissions technologies was crucial to Australia’s net-zero ambitions, and its aspirations to help developing nations do the same.
But he refused to formally ramp up Australia’s 2030 emissions target, one of the big asks of the conference to avoid the risks of runaway climate change.
Morrison told the conference Australia would stick to its six-year-old promise to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent cut by 2030, but would likely reach 35 per cent by then.
Meanwhile, after weeks of waiting, Australians were finally able to see the economic modelling that has informed the federal government’s goals and strategies to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
The modelling went live on the Department of Industry, science, Energy and Resources’ website.
The major findings, which was led by the Department of Industry alongside private management consulting firm McKinsey and Company, have been summarised into five key points:
- Reducing the cost of low emissions technologies can provide net benefits to Australia and put us within reach of net zero emissions by 2050;
- There are a range of pathways to delivering the reductions needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050;
- Adopting a target of net zero emissions by 2050, with a credible plan to achieve it, provides economic benefits to Australia;
- Jobs and output value grows across all major sectors to 2050, including mining; and
- Alternative approaches to achieving net zero involve additional costs and risks.
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