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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: Already during the election campaign, he announced that he would do more for the climate
Photo: IMAGO/LUKAS COCH / IMAGO/AAP
The change of government in Australia seems to be good news for the climate: the new Labor government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has significantly tightened the country's climate targets.
By 2030, CO₂ emissions are to be reduced by 43 percent compared to 2005.
Albanese announced that Australia had submitted a corresponding revised climate protection plan to the United Nations.
Scott Morrison's previous conservative government had only planned a minus of 26 to 28 percent by 2030 and last year still refused to commit to stricter reduction targets.
However, Australia had already declared in October, shortly before the start of the World Climate Conference, that it was aiming for more ambitious climate goals and that it wanted to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Morrison, an outspoken supporter of the coal industry, has long hesitated to issue this target - even though Australia is particularly hard hit by climate change.
At the same time, the country is one of the largest coal exporters in the world and has one of the highest CO₂ emission rates per capita.
More investment in renewable energy
Albanese had already made the climate issue one of his central points during the election campaign and promised to tackle the climate crisis and invest in renewable energies.
"In my discussions with international leaders over the past few weeks, they have all welcomed Australia's change in position," Albanese said.
The Labor boss won the parliamentary elections in May and can now govern with a narrow majority.
This means that his party is back in government for the first time in almost ten years.
Albanese now has leeway for its ambitious environmental policies and can implement them without the votes of other parties.
After years of environmental disasters, most recently catastrophic floods, the previous government of the conservative Morrison was criticized primarily for its climate policy.
asc/dpa