The NSW government will adopt an interim target as it works towards having net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the state's environment minister has announced, after declaring of the current bushfire crisis "this is climate change".
The interim 2030 target - reportedly a 35 per cent reduction - will be revealed in 2020 along with a plan to achieve it.
"While NSW comprises a small component of global emissions, we need to make sure that we are getting the benefit of the huge economic opportunities from low emissions technologies and do our part in reducing emissions," Environment Minister Matt Kean said in a statement on Thursday.
"Our emissions reduction plan will focus on rolling out technologies that reduce the cost of living and support the economy."
Mr Kean this week broke ranks when making the Berejiklian government's strongest statement on the link between climate change and the unprecedented bushfires that have already killed six people and destroyed more than 720 homes across NSW.
"The experts and the scientists are saying that climate change is causing more extreme weather events and that's resulting in things like bushfires that we're seeing around NSW," he told ABC radio.
"These fires have not just started, they've been going for weeks and weeks, and I as the environment minister in NSW am not going to wait until the end of summer to start having a meaningful conversation about what we've got to do to address this issue."
Federal Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud on Thursday labelled Mr Kean's comments a "distraction".
"I've got an open mind about it but it's not helped, I don't think, when seemingly ministers distract from the real issues that face people on the ground and are potentially over-exaggerating the science," he told ABC radio.
The consensus among scientists is that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of bushfires in Australia.
Mr Kean says clean energy presents an economic opportunity for the state, although NSW will continue exporting coal while there is international demand.
"What that means is we continue to export coal while there is still demand in the market, but the market is shifting," he told 2GB on Thursday.
"We should be taking advantage of that opportunity."
Mr Kean in his statement said one of the biggest economic opportunities would be in hydrogen produced from renewable energy such as solar.
Australian Associated Press
