What is the government's plan to get Australia to net zero?

Australia has finally joined much of the world in setting an official date to reach net zero carbon emissions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has committed the country to become carbon-neutral by 2050, a target already adopted by most nations heading to next week's COP26 international climate conference.

Australia will now have to find a way to eliminate its carbon dioxide emissions, or remove an amount equivalent to what it produces, in the next three decades.

But while the government has made an "official" commitment, the new net zero target won't be enshrined in legislation.

So what is the government's plan to reach net zero?

What does the net zero commitment mean?

Mr Morrison's commitment on Tuesday means Australia now has a stated date to reach net zero, sending an important signal to industry and the global community.

The net zero goal means that by 2050, the amount of carbon dioxide Australia is removing from the atmosphere will have to be the same as, or more than, the amount it is emitting.

Basically, it's about balancing the scales between the amount of carbon dioxide put into the environment, and the amount taken out.

Reaching that balance does not necessarily require ending coal or other fossil fuel consumption entirely, but it means that the government will have to find new ways to remove those emissions.

The government has explicitly noted its new plan focuses on "net zero, not absolute zero emissions", and that there is a role for the resource sector in the future.

How does the government plan to turn the country carbon-neutral?

Mr Morrison was quick to spell out what the government would not be doing to reach net zero emissions.

The PM has repeatedly ruled out introducing a tax or a price on carbon that would create a disincentive on fossil fuel production.

Instead, the government intends to use existing and emerging technologies, saying those will get the country 85 per cent of the way to net zero.

Under its net zero plan, the government will invest more than $20 billion between now and the end of the decade on the development of low emissions technologies.

Much of the strategy follows what was already announced in the government's 'technology investment roadmap' last year.

The plan prioritises "clean" hydrogen, "ultra-low-cost solar", battery storage of renewable power and carbon capture and storage.

Some of those technologies, including carbon capture and sequestration, remain largely unproven.

The first step in the government's long-term plan is to invest in making these technologies cheaper, or affordable to use at scale.

Some technologies, like green hydrogen, have already become much cheaper in recent years.

The government says deploying those technologies at scale, alongside purchased carbon offsets, will contribute to 85 per cent of reduced emissions.

But the pathway to achieve the last 15 per cent of emissions reductions is not yet clear, earmarked in the plan as "further technology breakthroughs".

"That 15 per cent will come from the evolution and momentum that is generated by those earlier technological developments," Mr Morrison said.

"It is probably one of the safest assumptions that you can make."

And the government says it won't come at the cost of the country's resources and exports sectors — those, Mr Morrison said, will be protected through "cleaner" production and carbon capture technologies.

Will Australia achieve its emissions reduction targets?

Government projections released today show Australia is on track to "meet and beat" the emissions reductions commitments it made under the Paris Agreement in 2016.

According to the Industry Department, emissions have already been reduced to 20 per cent below 2005 levels.

Much of that is thanks to changes in land use, household adoption of rooftop solar, and state efforts to reduce emissions.

The government committed to reduce its emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and the projections suggest the country will in fact have reduced emissions by 30 to 35 per cent by the end of the decade.

But the government's 2030 commitment has been widely criticised by environmental scientists and the international community as unambitious.

Several states and territories have set their own 2030 goals to halve emissions, and Tasmania recently committed to becoming completely carbon-neutral by the end of the decade.

But as part of the deal to bring Nationals politicians on board with the net zero commitment, Mr Morrison ruled out joining more than 100 nations in raising ambitions for 2030 emissions reduction ahead of next week's climate conference.

However, he did provide new projections that show Australia is on track to cut emissions by a greater amount than promised, even though the formal target remains unchanged.

"The world will be able to see us achieving that and it will take record of that," Mr Morrison said.

Is the world on track to limit global warming?

The government has pointed out that other countries with more ambitious 2030 targets are not on track to achieve them.

The United States, which recently committed to halve emissions by 2030, has so far reduced emissions by 13 per cent from 2005, according to the Industry Department.

Even if countries do meet their 2030 commitments, the United Nations (UN) has warned the world is far behind what is needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and currently not on track to limit warming to 2C either.

Under the current commitments made by the nations who have signed on to the Paris Agreement, by 2030 the world will be emitting 59 per cent more greenhouse gases than it did in 1990, and 16 per cent more than it did in 2010 — that is if all countries achieve their minimum commitments.

The UN says emissions must be reduced by 45 per cent from 2010 levels to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.