Can Queensland achieve net zero emissions by 2050? A look at the state's carbon neutral scheme

The United Nations wants it. Our key trading partners and industries are doing it. Even New South Wales has a plan for it.

So where is the Queensland Government on achieving net zero emissions by 2050?

The Premier said her Government's "major priority" after the election was delivering the budget, which was handed down last week.

Coming just a short time after an election campaign, it allows us to judge the Palaszczuk Government not on what it says but on what it does.

It's the moment the Premier and Treasurer put their money where their mouth is.

In 954 pages of budget papers, there is just one mention of "net zero" or "zero net" emissions — deep on page 152, where it talks about the Department of Transport and Main Roads delivering a roadmap to lead the transition in the transport sector.

While the Department of Environment made a promise to start working on a Climate Action Plan, it failed to commit to a deadline for it to be completed.

It's a potential legacy item for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who would fancy her Labor Government's environmental credentials superior to those of the New South Wales Coalition Government's, only to be beaten to the punch.

The southern state's plan involves $2 billion and an interim target of cutting emissions by 35 per cent by 2030.

By the end of the term, the Queensland Premier would no doubt like to have more in her list of major achievements, which so far after five years include headline items like abortion law reform, a ban on single-use plastics, building the Townsville stadium and, almost certainly, laws to legalise voluntary assisted dying.

The emissions pledge was actually made three years ago by Ms Palaszczuk's then-deputy Jackie Trad and then-environment minister Steven Miles.

Ms Trad also committed to the goal of reducing emissions by 30 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.

Many will point out, as Ms Palaszczuk did last week, that the Federal Government has not yet committed Australia to a net zero target by 2050.

Australia's key trading partners have all made efforts to move ahead on achieving net zero emission targets in coming decades, including the UK, Japan and the incoming Biden administration in the US.

Our largest trading partner, China, has committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2060.

Queensland late to the party with much at stake

At a state level, the Liberal-National Party said it is currently reviewing all its policies.

When pushed on budget day about when we might see more details on achieving net zero emissions in Queensland, the Premier said she was focussed on reaching her 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030 and pointed again to the plan being developed by her newly-appointed Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon.

It's often been cast as a left versus right issue but outside politics, Queensland's key industries are already on a unity ticket.

The Mineral Council of Australia has caught up to Queensland in adopting the target and individual companies have gone further in terms of implementation plans.

Earlier this year, mining giant Rio Tinto joined BHP in committing to net zero emissions by 2050 and announced it would spend $1.5 billion over the next five years.

The beef industry — another big export earner for Queensland — has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Queensland has much at stake.

The Great Barrier Reef was this week downgraded to the worst possible rating of "critical" by an advisory body to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, with climate change now considered the reef's number one threat.

In some good news, researchers at Climate Action Tracker said if the 127 countries who have signed up to net zero targets achieve them, global warming could be limited to 2.1 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, meaning the 1.5 degree limit set by the Paris Agreement is within striking distance.

But as custodians of the reef, the governments of Queensland and Australia have a special duty to ensure this great natural wonder is preserved.

The Queensland Government is late to the party in its claims to be at the vanguard of climate action and, as time passes, its ability to claim it as part of its political legacy is becoming less and less credible.