Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest warned that if the federal coalition scraps the 2030 emissions reduction target, Australian exports could face hefty carbon taxes.
Forrest criticized the dependency on future nuclear power, opposing large-scale renewables and abandoning interim targets, warning it would undermine investment certainty.
The Coalition’s climate policy faces scrutiny following CSIRO’s assessment that nuclear energy would be over 50% pricier than solar and wind electricity.
Additionally, Peter Dutton’s rejection of the 43% emissions cut by 2030 reveals a departure from the Paris Agreement commitments.
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“If we flip-flop between policies, if we go back to the past of uncertainty, then it, of course, makes employing people and investing very difficult to impossible,” Forrest told Radio National. “So that would be Australia kicking an own goal.”
On Tuesday, Forrest dismissed the Coalition’s claim that achieving net zero emissions by switching to nuclear power by 2049 was unrealistic.
He warned that major trading partners could penalize exporters from countries that fail to demonstrate progress towards cleaner energy sources in the meantime.
“And we would have been left behind by the rest of world by then. We’d have been hit with carbon taxes from Europe, from America – everywhere where they’re saying, ‘Well, we’re investing to go green. You didn’t. So we’re going to tax your products on the way into Europe, on the way into North America.’
