The Victorian Labor Government has positioned itself as Australia’s most ambitious climate change state, becoming one of the first jurisdictions in the world to legislate a net-zero emissions target and promising to halve emissions by 2030. The announcement is part of the state government’s new Climate Change Strategy (pdf) to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, which contrasts with the Federal Government’s plan for emissions reduction, which is a 26 to 28 percent reduction by 2030—without a definitive target date for achieving net-zero—to avoid imposing heavy taxation. Instead, Victoria hopes to meet the goal by legislating five-year reduction targets that will see carbon emission reduced by 28 to 33 per cent by 2025 and 45 to 50 percent by 2030. State Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio noted that this action makes the Victorian government a world leader as the first Australian state and one of the first jurisdictions in the …