56. Does Australia have Credible Climate Targets? (Spoilers: no)

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, host Dr Ntina Tzouvala (UNSW Sydney) is joined by Dr Julia Dehm (La Trobe Law School) and Dr Cristy Clark (University of Canberra) to unpack Australia’s newly announced 2035 emissions reduction target - a pledge to cut national emissions by 62–70% below 2005 levels - as well as the international legal framework within which it sits. The conversation examines how the government’s language of a “credible contribution” to global climate efforts contrasts with the more stringent standards articulated in the International Court of Justice’s recent Advisory Opinion on Climate Change. The panel asks whether Australia’s approach treats the 1.5°C goal as truly binding or merely aspirational -something “within reach” but politically optional. Drawing on insights from climate justice, environmental law, and human rights, the discussion explores broader questions of legal accountability, temporal justice, and equity in global climate governance. What does it mean for states to align their domestic targets with evolving international obligations? And can the law meaningfully bridge the gap between ambition and action? As always, these are informal conversations over drinks, reflecting the personal views of the participants and not those of their institutions. Recommendations: Julia Dehm, Reconsidering REDD+ Authority, Power and Law in the Green Economy, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reconsidering-redd/5D54EFE59BBA35999FEEBD9ACA8EA449 Julia Dehm, Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate Change and the Australian Legal System, https://www.latrobe.edu.au/library/ebureau/publications/featured/becoming-a-climate-conscious-lawyer Cristy Clark, The Lawful Forest: A Critical History of Property, Protest and Spatial Justice, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/lawful-forest/102FDDD9544740A8ADE16461AAFB1BCE Cristy Clark, Legal Geographies of Water: The Spaces, Places and Narratives of Human-Water Relations, https://www.routledge.com/Legal-Geographies-of-Water-The-Spaces-Places-and-Narratives-of-Human-Water-Relations/Clark/p/book/9781032225968 Law at the End of the World Podcast: https://lawattheendoftheworld.buzzsprout.com/