SYDNEY – Australia’s powerful mining sector has backed a 2050 net-zero carbon target, heaping pressure on the country’s coal-championing government to follow suit.
The Minerals Council of Australia, which represents mining heavy hitters like BHP and Rio Tinto, said a 2050 target is achievable through “significant investment in technology”.
“A more sustainable minerals sector is not only important for Australia’s post-Covid-19 recovery, but it is also helping to sustain and improve the lives of millions around the world,” said chief executive Tania Constable.
The country is currently one of the world’s leading exporters of fossil fuels, particularly coal and natural gas.
Its government continues to fund new coal projects despite the global climate crisis and mounting questions on whether new mines make economic sense.
Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far shied away from setting a net-zero carbon emissions target, despite pressure from the United States, Britain and other allies ahead of climate talks in Glasgow.
He has threatened to boycott the landmark United Nations climate summit, which begins late this month.
At the same time, his government has slowly shifted focus away from a 2030 carbon-neutral target to a less-ambitious 2050 target – which critics said is too little, too late.
A series of senior figures within Morrison’s administration, and now closely tied industry groups, have backed the 2050 target publicly.
But, there is still division within the ruling coalition.
Morrison faces re-election before May next year, and will almost certainly need the stridently pro-coal and climate-sceptic National Party to form a government.
Polls have shown that most Australians favour concrete action to tackle climate change, with those calls only intensifying following a string of climate-worsened bushfires and other natural disasters. – AFP, October 1, 2021
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