Governments around the world are moving to ‘net zero’, to limit the impacts of climate change. All Australian state and territory governments have the goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest, and the Prime Minister says the national target is net zero, preferably by 2050.

Yet Australia is not on track to hit this target. The best way to reduce emissions in an economically efficient manner would be to introduce a single, economy-wide emissions price coupled with well-targeted support for technology development. But the political reality is that carbon pricing is out of reach, at least for now. So Australia should pursue sector-specific policies.

Australian governments can and should act now to create momentum towards the net-zero goal. This report, the third in a series on net zero, recommends policies to reduce emissions in the agriculture and land sectors. These sector are linked because more than half of Australia’s land is used for agriculture.