I know Canberrans are passionate about protecting our climate by reducing emissions and transitioning our energy grid to renewables as quickly as possible.

That's why I am excited to share with you that today, the Albanese Labor Government has taken another strong step forward on climate action by announcing an ambitious and achievable 2035 emissions reduction target of 62 - 70%.

This target range is based on expert advice including from the Climate Change Authority and puts Australia firmly on the path to net zero while protecting households and businesses from the burden of higher costs.

Today's announcement isn't just a target, it also includes a detailed Net Zero Plan which outlines exactly how we plan to achieve our target while also providing businesses and renewables investors the certainty that they need so they can play their key role in decarbonising our economy past 2030.

The Plan demonstrates how Australia can transition while:

• growing the economy
• reducing cost pressures on households and businesses
• creating new jobs.

• Clean electricity across the economy.
• Lowering emissions by electrification and efficiency.
• Expanding clean fuel use.
• Accelerating new technologies.
• Net carbon removals scaled up.

In our first three years in government, we've increased wind and solar capacity by 45%, enough to power over 6 million households, but we aren't done yet. Now we'll build on that success and pick up the pace.

We know that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy and today we've made another down payment to supercharge their rollout. We've announced $2 billion to deliver even more renewables and we are also setting up a new $5 billion Net Zero Fund to help industry do the heavy lifting in moving to clean energy.

Our responsibility as a government for all Australians is to balance ambition with practical delivery to cut emissions, create jobs and keep downward pressure on household bills. That's exactly what this target does.

The target is affordable and achievable but most importantly, its ambitious. We are up for doing the hard work that comes on the other side of announcing this target because our future generations deserve that from us.

Only Labor leads from the front on climate action and renewable energy investment right across Australia, and today's plan builds on our commitment to deliver climate action in a meaningful and responsible way.

Thanks for taking the time to read about this significant announcement and I look forward to engaging with Canberrans about this target and our broader plans to deliver net zero by 2050.