Australian Federal Election Update: Climate Policy Status Quo Maintained … For Now

Climate policy and the anti-coal movement featured heavily in the recent federal election in Australia as the Liberal National Coalition government was reelected by a narrow majority, confounding both public expectations and the polls.

The Coalition proposed a policy to meet Australia's agreed Paris commitment of a 26% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 through both recent and planned closures of various coal-burning power stations and promised funding of carbon abatement projects at a cost of approximately $3.5 billion. The Labor Party went much further in its anti-coal platform—with a proposal to achieve a 45% reduction in carbon emissions through subsidies for renewable energy leading, which it believed would lead to earlier closure of Australia's aging coal-burning power stations, a policy broadly supported by the Greens and widely expected to help lead the Labor Party to victory in the national election.