An oil refinery is pictured in the Kurnell suburb of Sydney, July 16, 2014. REUTERS Jason Reed:
MELBOURNE, Oct 24 Reuters - The junior partner in the coalition government said on Sunday it would provisionally support a net zero emissions target by 2050, giving Prime Minister Scott Morrison a green light to take the country's updated climate ambitions to Glasgow talks.
Morrison, who must call a general election by May 2022, has faced growing domestic and international pressure to reach an agreement before the U.N. COP 26 climate summit next weekend, where he is to update world leaders with Australia's goals.
We are in support of a process going forward that would go towards a 2050 emissions target, Barnaby Joyce, leader of the National Party, said after weeks of warnings that the party may reject net zero over concerns about the impact on farming and coal mining.
Morrison added, however, that the decision is dependent on the Cabinet endorsing agreements made with Joyce during negotiations over the last few days. The cabinet is to meet within days to sign off on the plan.
Morrison said previously that Australia wanted to achieve net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050 and it expects to beat its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2030.
Joyce would not reveal the details of the agreements with Morrison, but said the National Party was calling on the prime minister for assurances that rural and regional communities won't be adversely affected by implementing more ambitious climate change policies.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the position regional people are in now is vastly better than they were in before we started those negotiations, Joyce said.
He admitted, however, that not all can be happy.
I would say to people in regional Australia, I understand completely some of the sentiments held there but I say to you as earnestly as I can, there is no way we can deal with any of those if we are outside the tent.