{"id":281289,"date":"2025-11-13T07:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/281289\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T07:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:44:13","slug":"australias-conservative-liberal-party-abandons-net-zero-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/281289\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s conservative Liberal Party abandons net zero policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This file photo shows Liddell Power Station (left) and Bayswater Power Station, coal-powered thermal power stations near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, Australia on Nov 2, 2021. (PHOTO \/ AP)<\/p>\n

SYDNEY – Australia\u2019s conservative Liberal Party on Thursday walked away from its policy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and pledged instead to prioritise bringing down energy prices if elected.<\/p>\n

The announcement settles months of public infighting between moderate and right-wing faction members over the party\u2019s climate policy, and aligns the Liberals with the National Party, their rural-based coalition partner.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the Liberal party would dismantle the centre-left Labor government\u2019s environment and energy policies if elected, scrapping targets on reducing emissions and renewable energy generation.<\/p>\n

But it would not withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, she added.<\/p>\n

“Today the Liberal Party has decided to put affordable energy first,” Ley told reporters at a news conference.<\/p>\n

“Net zero would be welcome if we can get there with technology, with choice and voluntary markets.”<\/p>\n

The Liberal Party\u2019s plan would also involve preventing early coal plant closures, lifting Australia’s ban on nuclear energy and increasing investment in new gas supply and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Ley said while the party would no longer pursue net zero, emissions would still be reduced “in line with comparable countries” and “as fast as technology allows”.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Australian state signs country’s first treaty with Indigenous people into law<\/a><\/p>\n

The decision came after a five-hour party meeting on Wednesday where a majority of members voted to abandon the target.<\/p>\n

It puts the Liberal Party in line with the Nationals, who voted earlier this month to abandon its commitment to reach net-zero emissions.<\/p>\n

But Julia Dehm, an associate law professor at La Trobe University, said the plan was not in line with the Paris agreement, which requires emission reduction commitments that “represent a progression beyond previous commitments”.<\/p>\n

“Australia risks international reputational damage and potential international legal actions if there isn’t bi-partisan commitment to take ambitious action to prevent dangerous global heating in line with our international obligations,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

While the Liberal Party committed to net-zero by 2050 under former Prime Minister Scott Morrison in 2021, the dispute reignited after a resounding national election defeat to the centre-left Labor Party in May.<\/p>\n

The Labor government aims to cut emissions by 62 percent -70 percent from 2005 levels by 2035, and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. In September, it announced A$5 billion ($3.3 billion) in funding to help industrial facilities decarbonise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This file photo shows Liddell Power Station (left) and Bayswater Power Station, coal-powered thermal power stations near Muswellbrook…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,55985,66975,98118,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-281289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-la-trobe-university","11":"tag-national-party","12":"tag-net-zero-emissions","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}