Labor will take a "modest" climate change strategy to the federal election centred on a legislated 43 per cent emissions cut this decade.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Household power bills are anticipated to be $275 cheaper, compared with today, by 2025, and $378 cheaper in 2030 under the opposition's policy.
The plan is also expected to create 604,000 jobs by the end of the decade under modelling prepared by energy and environment advisory firm RepuTex.
A Labor government would legislate a 43 per cent emissions reduction on 2005 levels by 2030 to help get Australia to net zero by mid-century.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese defended having a less ambitious 2030 target than the 46-to-50 per cent cut previously called for by the Business Council of Australia.
"It is a modest policy. We do not pretend that it is a radical policy. It is a consistent policy with our approach," he told reporters in Canberra on Friday.
The plan would involve a gradual tightening of obligations on polluters under the government's existing safeguard mechanism.
But Labor pledged not to extend the mechanism - which obliges entities to avoid excessive emissions - to businesses not already covered.
Its 2030 emissions target is weaker than what the opposition proposed before its bruising 2019 election loss that prompted an in-depth review.
"There was difficulty answering some of the questions of cost and economic impact," Mr Albanese said of Labor's previous 45 per cent target.
"That's why this is right. We didn't pick a figure and then not be able to explain how we can get there."
The approach aims to boost the share of renewables in the national energy market to 82 per cent this decade.
Labor also wants to bid for Australia to host a future COP climate summit in an effort to rehabilitate the country's global environment reputation.
The opposition pledged to remove taxes on electric vehicles to make them between $2000 and $12,000 cheaper.
It wants low-emission cars to make up 75 per cent of new commonwealth purchases and leases by 2025.
But Labor will not mandate vehicle emissions standards, in place in Europe, designed to induce manufacturers to sell cleaner cars.
The Business Council of Australia labelled Labor's overall policy sensible and workable.
"(It) paints a path towards net zero by helping to give businesses the certainty they need to get on with the work they're already doing and do even more," chief executive Jennifer Westacott said.
Environment groups acknowledge Labor's policy is significantly stronger than that of the coalition government, which relies on projections it will overshoot previously agreed emissions cuts of between 26 and 28 per cent.
"But it (Labor) needs to go further if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and seize a jobs boom in a low carbon economy," the Australian Conservation Foundation said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed Labor's proposal would lead to higher electricity prices and cost jobs in emissions-heavy industries.
Australian Associated Press
