And Mr Shorten will argue that to rely on economic growth fuelled by emissions-intensive industries such as coal would be "economically reckless". Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will unveil Labor's commitment to steeper emissions cuts on Friday. Credit:Andrew Meares "We need to get on with diversifying and de-coupling our economy, separating emissions growth from economic growth," he will say on Friday in a landmark speech to the Lowy Institute. "Changing technology, modernising fuels and embracing clean energy does not mean trading away our prosperity. In fact, it means the opposite." With Mr Turnbull on his way to the UN climate change summit in Paris next week, the Labor leader will unveil his alternative to the Abbott government formula - continued by Mr Turnbull upon his promotion - of 26-28 per cent reductions on year 2005 emissions by 2030.

Instead Labor will go much harder, proposing a cut over the same period of 45 per cent towards a goal of a totally emissions neutral Australian economy by 2050. And Labor will also set down an interim 2025 target for emissions cuts, if elected, to enable even steeper reductions if progress can be made more quickly. "Malcolm Turnbull is flying to Paris carrying Tony Abbot's climate-sceptic baggage," Mr Shorten's speech notes say, adding that Mr Turnbull had "won the leadership vote in the party room, but Tony Abbott has won the climate policy debate in the Liberal Party". Citing a greater risk of extreme weather events, such as "heightened instability" in the region, the potential loss of $5.7 billion in tourism dollars from jeopardising the Great Barrier Reef including 65,000 fewer jobs, and "$226 billion in damage to coastal property and infrastructure", Mr Shorten will argue the cost of inadequate action is far greater than sensible adaptation. "This is not doom-saying, or hyperbole," he will say.

"The global temperature is rising and human activity is the cause, the proof is irrefutable. "No area of scientific inquiry in the past 30 years has been more rigorously tested, scrutinised and peer-reviewed." His announcement coincides with the declaration by the World Meteorological Organisation that 2015 is likely to be the hottest year since records were kept and that the five-year period 2011-2015 is also the hottest on record. While the Labor leader is trailing Mr Turnbull by a long way as preferred prime minister, Mr Shorten believes that will change as voters increasingly recognise the difference between what they remember Mr Turnbull stood for and what he says now that he is Prime Minister. "No one has delivered a more incisive critique of Direct Action than the current Prime Minister who labelled it 'an environmental fig-leaf to cover a determination to do nothing'," Mr Shorten will say.

"He had the courage to tell the truth when he was a backbencher with nothing to lose yet now, when power is in his grasp and the evidence is in front of his eyes, he cannot admit what he knows in his heart and head to be true. "To my mind, this is actually far worse than scepticism." Labor's proposed 45 per cent cut is based on the recommendations of the government's own Climate Change Authority which said in its July report, "the authority confirms its preliminary recommendations that Australia commit to the following package at the forthcoming Paris Conference: a 2025 target of a 30 per cent reduction in its emissions below 2000 levels (or a 36 per cent reduction if the government should choose 2005 as its preferred base year); and further reductions within a range of 40 to 60 per cent below 2000 levels by 2030 (or a range of approximately 45 to 65 per cent below 2005 levels)". Mr Shorten's 45 per cent sits at the bottom of that range. "Today I announce Labor will use the Climate Change Authority's recommendation of a 45 per cent reduction as the basis for our consultations with industry, employers, unions and the community," he will say. "We will undertake this process mindful of the consequences for jobs, for regions and for any impacts on households."

The government has said it will not negotiate is targets at Paris even as Mr Turnbull on Thursday expressed optimism that the COP21 meeting - the biggest since Copenhagen in 2009 - would be a success. Follow us on Twitter