Labor ‘reckless and irresponsible’ with net-zero emissions target

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has branded Labor’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050 “reckless and irresponsible”. Mr Cormann told Sky News on Sunday “Australia is a net exporter of energy, and producing energy supplies in Australia for export generates emissions in Australia but can help reduce emissions by significantly more in other parts of the world where that energy is consumed”. When asked if the government had ruled out a zero net emissions target by 2050, Mr Cormann said “right now I’m not ruling anything in or anything out” as a “body of work” is needed to ensure climate policy commitments are “environmentally effective and economically responsible”. “We would never be as reckless and irresponsible as Anthony Albanese was on Friday copying the reckless and irresponsible approach by Bill Shorten in the lead up to the last election where he put forward targets without any costings, without any assessment of the impact on jobs on electricity prices and even without any assessment of the impact on global emissions,” Mr Cormann said. Mr Cormann said the government is focused on implementing its 2030 emissions reduction targets but will be “finalising” its approach to long-term targets “in time” for the global climate summit in Glasgow. “We’ve said for some time that we will be finalising our approach to the longer-term emissions reduction targets that we would commit ourselves to in time for Glasgow later this year,” he said. Image: News Corp Australia Via news.com.au — Australia’s #1 news site https://www.news.com.au