Bowen unveils sector by sector decarbonisation plan, but says no to 2035 net zero target

Federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen has slammed Australia’s official net zero plan – lodged by the previous Coalition government, as a “fantasy” as he announced on Tuesday plans to create ambitious sector by sector decarbonisation plans.

Bowen told the Clean Energy Summit on Tuesday that he has asked the Climate Change Authority to update Australia’s Net Zero 2050 plan and replace it with a new plan that lays out robust actions plans for the electricity, industry, building, transport, resources and land sectors.

“As you know, Australia’s currently lodged 2050 plan is a fantasy, invented by the Morrison Government,” Bowen said. “It assumes future technologies will do the heavy lifting without any effort or investment to bring them about.”

He said the new sector by sector decarbonisation plans would be crucial to laying out a pathway to net zero and to inform Australia’s 2035 emissions targets, but he rejected calls by The Greens and numerous environmental groups to set a net zero target for 2035.

“Net zero cannot be a 2050 plan – that timeframe is not in line with our international commitment to keep global warming as close to 1.5 degrees as possible,” said ACF’s Suzanne Harter.

“The science is clear: we’ve got to reach net zero by 2035 and that means government-guided net zero sectoral plans and the 2035 target that Australia lodges under the Paris Agreement will all need to line up with 2035 as the target year.”

Bowen was asked by RenewEconomy at a media briefing after his speech in Sydney if Labor would accelerate the current 2050 net zero target, given the slew of heatwaves wreaking havoc across the northern summer, and the need to accelerate climate action in accordance with 1.5°C targets.

He noted that the Greens had a target of net zero by 2035. “Okay, and well, explain how you’re going to do that. It’s not realistic. It’s not achievable,” Bowen said.

He also noted that Labor’s upgraded target of 43 per cent cut by 2030 has been described as both not ambitious, and too ambitious. “It (the 2035 target) will be a good target. It will be ambitious,” Bowen said.

Bowen’s biggest challenge is to ensure that Australia can meet its current 43 per cent target, which is underpinned by an 82 per cent renewable energy target that is currently falling behind schedule, due to a range of issues including transmission, connection policies and the competition for capital.

The CEC earlier in the day called for the renewable energy target to be extended, but Bowen would not commit to that, saying all options under the review of the sectoral targets, and under the guidance of the Climate Change Authority, would be considered.

“Today I have written to the Climate Change Authority asking them to provide their statutory advice under the Climate Change Act on the 2035 target. I expect to receive this advice in late 2024,” he told the summit.

He said the sector by sector net zero plans would not include a specific target “because they are dealing with different challenges and different technologies coming forward at different times.

“Agriculture is very different to the built environment. They both need to be working with us and we need to be working with them on decarbonisation, but a very different beast to get into different parts.”

Bowen outlined the numerous policy initiatives unveiled by the Labor government since its election just over a year ago, including the Capacity Investment Mechanism, the Rewiring the Nation plan, the Safeguard Mechanism, legalising offshore wind, the national EV strategy and many others.

But he was withering in his comments about the Coalition, and its leader Peter Dutton, and the Opposition’s  support for nuclear and its continued rejection of climate action and the science itself.

“The man who joked about water lapping the homes of Pacific Islanders has not improved,” Bowen said on Dutton.

“Every time Peter Dutton talks about climate change or renewable energy he underlines that he doesn’t understand it.  And he shows no sign of wanting to understand it.

“He says renewable energy doesn’t work at night. He appears unaware that the wind still blows in the evening, and offshore wind blows even stronger.

“He says that batteries can only last an hour.  Not true. Every time he says that, he just reminds everyone how little he understands how our energy grid and renewable energy works, when current technologies can last up to eight hours and are getting even better.”

Bowen also took aim at former National leader Barnaby Joyce, who is upping his campaign against renewables, particularly in the New England region, one of several renewable energy zones planned for NSW.

“Barnaby Joyce is still the loudest and most influential voice in the alternative government on energy policy. His number one priority is stopping the rollout of cleaner, cheaper renewable energy.”

And he cited the latest GenCost report from the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator, which confirmed that wind and solar – despite a big bump in costs due to inflation – remained the cheapest new build option, even with storage and transmission.

“The latest Gencost Report, out today in fact, confirms that the more we learn about small modular reactors (SMR’s), the more expensive they get,” Bowen noted.

“SMR’s, even with all the supposed technological advancement coming this decade, are tracking to be up to five times more expensive than firmed wind and solar in 2030.”

He also noted that nuclear is slow to build and can’t be easily turned on and off, so is “effectively useless” as a source of peaking and firming, and that a report from Stanford University found that small nuclear reactors would produce waste at up to 30 times more than large nuclear facilities.

“Let’s call this what it is: a dead cat distraction from a party which brought us ten years of denial and delay,” Bowen said.

“Well, we won’t be distracted. We’ll be getting on with the job.”