CANBERRA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- A bill to enshrine the Australian government's new emissions reduction target in law has passed the lower house of Parliament.
The House of Representatives on Thursday voted in favor of the Climate Change Bill after the governing Labor Party agreed to some amendments.
The bill will enshrine in law the government's pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 43 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.
Amendments accepted by the government ensure a 43 percent reduction in Australia's minimum target and that climate change policies will benefit regional communities.
It will now go to the Senate where it is expected to be passed into law in September.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in Canberra on Thursday that this is "a fulfillment of a core promise" that they made at the election of the reduction target and a renewable sector that will grow to 82 percent of the national energy market by 2030.
However, the government rejected a push by the Greens to lift the 2030 emissions reduction target to 75 percent.
Despite supporting the bill, Greens leader Adam Bandt said it would lead to the death of the Great Barrier Reef and worse natural disasters. "That is the science. That is why we are doing this," he said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We're not doing this to try to stop pollution a little bit. We are doing this to try to stop climate change from becoming a runaway chain reaction."
The legislation was not required for the target, which Albanese formally submitted to the United Nations in June. ■