Labor’s shameful climate target is a call to action for Australia’s youth: we must not give up the fight

By Grace Vegesana

The Albanese Government’s emissions reduction target is a betrayal that sets us on a catastrophic pathway. For Australia’s youth, it means the fight for climate justice is more important than ever, writes Grace Vegesana.

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

“Ambitious. Achievable.” It’s everywhere across Labor social media right now. That’s how the Labor government has decided to spin their absolute failure of a climate target. I’ll take “achievable” - it’s easily that. “Ambitious” however, is a frankly embarrassing stretch.

The bar for climate policy is on the floor after a decade of Liberal denial and delay, but we’re at a point in the climate crisis where timid baby steps won’t cut it. We’re already feeling the impacts of the crisis, and without strong action it’s only going to get worse from here. That was made extremely clear in the National Climate Risk Assessment finally released last week - although based on Labor’s new climate targets, you’d think they didn’t actually read their own report.

We’re talking Brisbane & Fremantle flooded for the vast majority of the year. Skyrocketing heat deaths across the continent - in my own community of Western Sydney we’d see an increase of 444% more heat-related deaths. Displacement and forced relocation of entire communities. Catastrophic bushfires that build year on year. These impacts are all avoidable, but the target the Albanese Government just set sends us barrelling towards them.

Albanese has now unveiled a target of 62-70% reduction on emissions on 2005 levels. This target would set us on track for 2.4ºC of warming. It’s an absolute betrayal from a government that claims to be serious about climate action. To avoid the worst of the worst impacts, we must limit warming to 1.5 degrees. Every single fraction of a degree of warming makes a difference - and is measured in lives, homes, and communities’ ability to survive in a climate-changed world, and the Albanese government’s new target massively blows the budget.

For young people, this isn’t just numbers on a page. This is setting the very trajectory of our future. In 2035, I’ll be 35 years old. I grew up in Western Sydney, and know too well how extreme heat impacts my community - everyone already has an extreme heat story. In the last 5 years alone, I’ve called ambulances for neighbours who are experiencing heat stroke, experienced consecutive months of dense bushfire smoke inhalation, and watched roofs collapse during extreme storms. I’m afraid for my family, my friends and my neighbours, knowing that the worst impacts are yet to come and we will be here to witness them. Labor’s decision tells me that they do not care about us.

Young people, Pasifika people and First Nations people have been consistent with our ask - what we need is no more coal and gas. When I was 17 and fresh in the climate movement, a Pacific leader told me “the transition might be inevitable, but justice is not”. These words still stand eight years on: even if Australia meets our renewable energy goals, it means nothing if we keep approving coal and gas for extraction and export. Our own domestic transition to clean energy will never offset our responsibility to communities in Australia or our neighbours in the Pacific.

So where do we go from here? The fight for climate justice has never been more important. Australia is the third largest exporter of coal and gas in the world, and the impacts are coming right back to bite us if we don’t act fast. Climate justice is not an inevitability - we have to fight for it and everything we can save and have already saved is always, always worth it. We still have time, but we need to act swiftly.

Next November, the Albanese government is hoping to host the international climate negotiations (COP31) in Adelaide. While I’m hopeful that we can build a powerful movement to turn up the pressure for strong action, I’m also deeply embarrassed. Australia’s climate policy will be in the international spotlight and what we have to show for it is failing policy and a government propping up the destruction of our futures. We have the potential to be world leaders on climate, but Albanese is squandering the opportunity by selling out to the fossil fuel industry.

It’s easy to look at all of this in despair, and there’s days where all I want to do is crawl into bed and cry at the state of things. I find that action is the best antidote to despair. And I know young people have the power to change things. Every single moment throughout history has shown us that young people lead the way for justice with uncompromising ambition and critical eyes. We have to step up and own the moment. This is our generation’s fight, for our lives, for our future. There’s no one but us to do it.

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About the author

Grace Vegesana (she/they)

Grace is the National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, and a 25 year old woman-of-colour who has been building youth power to end fossil fuel expansion since she was 17. Her legacy includes co-founding the People of Colour Climate Network, pioneering climate justice, organising on Dharug Country in Western Sydney with AYCC, and mobilising 3000 Australian businesses to join the Climate Strikes. At the heart of Grace’s work is a fierce belief in a better, brighter, and more climate-resilient world for young people to inherit and thrive in - and a reminder that hope is not just a feeling, but a call to action.