Climate change carbon emission 2030 goal: Anthony Albanese's plan could fail as bills soar
A government department has cast doubt on Prime Minister 's goal of reducing carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. Labor, with support from the Greens, in September passed legislation honouring its election promise. But just three months later, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has suggested that plan to reduce carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, would unlikely to be reached. Its modelling suggested that even with additional measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, carbon pollution by 2030 would only fall by 40 per cent. Without extra policy changes to encourage more renewable energy, carbon emissions by 2030 would fall by 32 per cent. This baseline scenario factored in new policies to scrap import tariffs on electric vehicles, make public servants drive EVs, and fund community solar batteries. The department said most of the reduction in carbon emissions would be the result of federal and state government programs to boost solar electricity generation. 'From 2020 to 2030, most of the decline in emissions is projected to come from the electricity sector due to strong uptake of renewables supported by federal, state and territory policies,' it said in a . Carbon emissions were expected to rise as more Australians used their car following the end of Covid restrictions and farmers restocked cattle after the drought. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory data showed transport emissions rose by 3.2 per cent in the June quarter of 2022. The departmental report was more optimistic about reducing carbon emissions beyond 2030, predicting a 38 per cent reduction by 2035 under a baseline scenario and 48 per cent by 2035 with 'additional measures'. Australia has a goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which both sides of politics support. More ambitions renewable energy targets have meant power companies have brought forward plans to close down coal-fired power stations, from Eraring near Newcastle in 2025 to Bayswater in the Hunter Valley by 2033 and the Collie in Western Australia by 2027. This would reduce the baseload supply of electricity, making higher electricity bills more likely until more homes were connected to renewable energy grids. Labor went to the election vowing to slash average power bills by $275 by 2025, despite knowing the implications of Russia's Ukraine war on global energy markets. The plan appeared to come unstuck in the October Budget when Treasury forecast electricity bills would rise by 56 per cent in 2022 and 2023. Labor's 'Powering Australia's promises were last month removed from its websites. Before Labor came to power, the Australian Energy Market Operator in April noted annual wholesale prices had more than doubled to $87 in the March quarter - rising by 141 per cent in a year.