Wood said with an estimated cost of $20 a tonne to reduce emissions there was “no way known” the government could expand subsidies to cut 500m tonnes a year to reach net zero, it is “beyond comprehension”. The energy minister, Angus Taylor, has suggested similar investments would be needed by future governments in coming decades but declined to nominate a total cost.
Under the Morrison government plan, $20bn will be spent over the next decade investing in technology including an extra $2bn of emissions reductions bought through the ERF. It proposed expanding the emissions reduction fund (ERF) and limits on big emitters in the safeguard mechanism, investment in the electricity grid, and rules around carbon credits to help build a market for them. The Grattan report noted that while Australia was on track to beat its 26 to 28% 2030 emissions reduction target, more must be done today to reach the 2050 goal. It urged that developed nations phase out fossil fuel production, which Australia has opposed at the G20, leading into Cop26. They have warned that heating beyond that would be “devastating for our region and some of our countries in the Pacific would be under the ocean”. The Pacific Islands Association of Non-governmental Organisations has urged “rich” nations to “move significantly faster to reduce global emissions by 2030” in order to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees.
