Australia’s 2035 climate target will cost us in more ways than one
By Jennifer Brown
The cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis are inherently linked. Here’s how we’ll pay the price.
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In the space of two weeks, the Albanese government approved a massive new gas project, released a report spelling out how climate change will reshape Australia, and announced a new national emissions reduction target. And in the middle of it all, the Prime Minister travelled to the Pacific Islands Forum, promising leadership to nations already watching their homes sink beneath rising seas.
So what does that all mean for you?
The target vs the science
The Albanese Government’s new 2035 target is to cut emissions by 62–70 percent below 2005 levels. On paper, that looks tidy. The Prime Minister called it “responsible” and “balanced.”
But the science is clear. To keep Australians safe, we need to cut at least 75 percent by 2035. The difference isn’t a rounding error, it's the gap between a future where we limit the worst impacts and one where Australians pay for more disasters and higher bills.
The world has already warmed to around 1.3 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. To put this into context, at 1.5 degrees Celsius the Great Barrier Reef is fighting for survival. At 2 degrees Celsius, it's gone. This isn't an abstract issue. It’s about whether Australia’s most famous natural wonder, and the communities that depend on it, will make it through the next generation.
How it impacts our daily lives
The Government’s own National Climate Risk Assessment, released just a few days before the target, spells out that climate change is already altering where and how Australians live.
Housing is on the frontline. By 2050, more than one million homes could be classed as “very high risk,” effectively making them uninsurable. Premiums are already rising - up an average of $800 last year alone. For younger Australians trying to break into the housing market, climate change means that even if you manage to buy, your first concerns won’t be the backyard or the kitchen, but flood maps, insurance quotes, and whether cover will even be available when disaster strikes.
And it’s not just individual homes. With another 1.5 million Australians at risk of coastal flooding, entire neighbourhoods could become harder, or even impossible to protect.
The cost doesn’t stop at your front door either. Climate change will increase disasters which disrupt supply chains and push up prices. We’ve seen it already this year after the Western Queensland floods, which covered an area 4 times the size of the UK, killed more than 100,000 livestock, increased food prices and left farmers rebuilding their lives. The risk assessment projects more of the same.
Then there’s work itself. By 2063, heat stress alone could strip up to $423 billion from the economy in lost productivity. Industries like farming, tourism, hospitality, and construction, all major employers, will be hardest hit. Small businesses, where many people start their careers, will also be under pressure.
A weaker economy flows through to wages, and the value of your super. In other words, climate change doesn’t just reshape where you can work, it reshapes the financial safety nets people count on for the future.
For all Australians, this isn’t a debate about percentages on a spreadsheet. It’s about whether your home is insurable, your bills affordable, and your future liveable.
Contradictions at the heart of government policy
If the target is meant to show climate leadership, the government’s other decisions tell a different story.
Just days before announcing the target, the Albanese Government gave the green light to one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in the country: Woodside’s plan to extend the North West Shelf gas project until 2070. That’s another 40 years of pollution that will lock in emissions equal to a decade of Australia’s current output.
The billions of tonnes of coal and gas that we export overseas aren't counted in our target. Our target only measures what emissions we produce at home driving cars, running dishwashers, powering factories. Exports vanish from the ledger, making the numbers look far cleaner than the reality.
And yet, at the same time, the government is lobbying to host COP31, the world’s biggest climate summit, pitching Australia as a climate leader. The contradictions couldn’t be starker by backing new fossil fuels at home while selling “responsible” climate action abroad.
Delay has become the default
Australia’s 62–70 percent target will be sold as pragmatic. But behind the spin, it’s the politics of delay. Every year we fall short of what science demands makes the eventual transition steeper, more expensive, and more disruptive.
Short-term political cycles reward easy wins, not long-term survival. Fossil fuel companies, who are one of the main contributors to climate change, wield enormous influence, shaping policy behind the scenes. And ordinary people like us are left carrying the costs through higher bills, unaffordable insurance, and riskier futures.
The truth is simple. The cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis are the same crisis. Until we close the gap between what science demands and what politics delivers, those costs will keep rising.
About the author
Jennifer Brown
Jennifer has spent more than a decade working on climate change, with a focus on how it impacts people and deepens inequality. Her work has ranged from international policy to campaigning in Queensland at the Queensland Conservation Council.
You can find more explainers from Jennifer at Think Box Project, and you can follow her work on Instagram at @thinkbox.project.
