Australia’s 2035 Emissions Target: Home Electrification

A 2035 emissions target range has been set for Australia and plans to achieve it unveiled. So, what’s on the cards for home electrification?

What Target Has Been Set For 2035?

The Albanese Government has set a national target to reduce emissions by 62–70% below 2005 levels by 2035; on our way to net zero by 2050.

While describing the 20235 target range as ambitious — although some have said it’s not enough and others too ambitious — the government believes this is achievable, in Australia’s national interests to pursue and provides a strong investment signal.

The Plan(s) To Get There

Building on existing policies, the Albanese government says it will achieve the target range with actions in five priority areas under the acronym CLEAN.

• Clean electricity across the economy
• Lowering emissions by electrification and efficiency
• Expanding clean fuel use
• Accelerating new technologies
• Net carbon removals scaled up

Six sector plans were unveiled, covering:

• Electricity and Energy
• Agriculture and Land
• Built Environment
• Industry
• Resources
• Transport

There’s heck of a lot to unpack among all that was published, so I’ll just focus on some elements of home electrification and electric vehicles.

Home Electrification

Home electrification falls mainly under the Built Environment sector plan, which focuses on:

• electrification where possible.
• installing more rooftop solar and battery systems.
• improve the thermal performance of buildings.

Several existing initiatives driving decarbonisation and the energy efficiency of commercial/residential buildings and appliances will be expanded and/or enhanced. Among them:

NatHERS Expansion

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) was established in the 1990’s to assess thermal performance and drive improvements in the energy efficiency of new residential buildings. Late last year, we reported NatHERS would be expanding to incorporate energy ratings for existing homes.

In July this year, stage 1 of the expansion of NatHERS commenced and the Government will invest around $33 million to continue and scale-up the roll out ratings for existing homes.

Modernising GEMS

The Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS) aims to improve the energy performance of the appliances we use and prevent the sale of the most energy inefficient products in the Australian market.

A common form of GEMS labelling requirements is the Energy Rating Label, which use a star rating to indicate how much energy a product uses compared to similar products.

The Government will invest approximately $16 million to modernise the GEMS Act and update the program.

Solar Panels And Batteries

Nothing particularly new here for households that I could see, but there’s already support through the generous and hugely popular national solar rebate and government battery rebate schemes.

It’s worth noting in its advice to the Government that informed the 2035 target decision, the Climate Change Authority (CCA) said reaching even the lower end of the target emissions reduction range — 62 per cent — would require (among other things) quadrupling of wind capacity, tripling of large-scale solar and a doubling of rooftop solar in the National Electricity Market (NEM).

What’s so far taken us around 20 years to achieve for the latter, we’ll need to do again in the next 10.

As for home batteries, the Albanese Government is eyeing one million new home battery installations by 2030 through its Cheaper Home Batteries Program. More than 43,000 home batteries had been installed with a new or existing rooftop solar system since the program launched on July 1, 2025 to the end of August.

Pursuing A Fair And Equitable Transition

There’s also acknowledgement in the Built Environment plan of the need for disadvantaged cohorts to be better supported in home electrification and energy efficiency. Among these groups are low-income owner occupiers, private renters, those living in social housing, older and disabled Australians and those living in remote and regional areas.

There’s already some action here, with programs such as the expanded Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative (SHEPI) to deliver energy performance upgrades to over 100,000 social housing properties by 2028–29.

Electric Vehicles

Transport is the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, representing 22% of national emissions in 2024. Harking back to the CCA’s advice, in order to meet even the lower end of the target emissions reduction range, half of the light vehicles sold between now and 2035 would need to be electric vehicles.

Among the priority actions for the transport sector is moving to electric vehicles and investing in low and zero emissions transport infrastructure to encourage uptake.

Adding to existing policies and programs, $40 million has been announced to accelerate the rollout of kerbside and fast EV charging across Australia. The Government says it will leverage the strengths of Distributed Network Service Providers (DNSPs) and EV charge point operators to deliver up to 10,000 public chargers.

Commenting on the emissions target and accompanying plans, a joint press release from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen states:

“We are not the biggest polluter or the biggest economy but our commitment to action on climate change matters. It matters to our neighbours, it matters for our economy and it matters for the country that we pass on to our children.”

You can read more on the 2035 target and pathways to net zero here.