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Mining in Western Australia (archive image)
Photo: TIM WIMBORNE / REUTERS
Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to take such a step in August.
But now, shortly before the UN climate summit in Glasgow, Australia has declared that it wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.
However, the reduction targets for 2030 will not be tightened any further.
The conservative Morrison also spoke out on Monday in favor of preserving mining and heavy industry.
As one of the world's most important coal and gas exporters, Australia had long resisted setting a fixed date for reaching the zero-emission mark.
The country has one of the highest CO₂ emission rates per capita.
"We will not be taught by others who do not understand Australia," said Morrison.
He also does not want to break the promise "that we made in the last election by changing our emissions reduction targets for 2030".
"We want our heavy industries and mining to remain open and competitive and to adapt so that they remain viable for as long as global demand allows," said the Prime Minister.
According to experts, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is considered to be crucial in order to take timely action against the climate crisis.
Severe droughts, massive floods
Hardly any other country has suffered as much from the effects of global warming as Australia has in recent years.
There are repeated severe droughts, heat waves, floods and coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef.
From August 2019 to March 2020, devastating bush fires devastated more than twelve million hectares of land.
In its report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in August, people would have to be prepared for far more extreme weather events.
The report shows more clearly than ever before how rising greenhouse gas emissions are threatening the earth (read a comprehensive analysis here).
The desired goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial period as far as possible will, according to the model calculations, probably be exceeded in the next 20 years, even with the strictest climate protection measures.
jok / AFP