Angus Taylor says it is not Australian government policy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050

Energy minister says Coalition's approach is not to have a target without a plan' to achieve it

Angus Taylor says it is not Australia's policy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, despite signing up to the Paris agreement, because the Morrison government will not adopt a mid-century target in advance of a plan to achieve it.

The energy minister said on Tuesday that signatories to the Paris agreement, including Australia, had agreed to hit net zero in the second half of the century". But scientists say in order to meet the central Paris goal of keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C - a commitment Australia adopted in 2015 - signatories need to hit net zero by 2050.