Labor has resolved to keep the Coalition’s national energy guarantee with a higher emissions reduction target, and will propose a detailed plan B for renewables in the event it can’t be legislated.

The shadow cabinet on Wednesday took the decision to stick with the Neg developed by Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg, with an emissions reduction target for electricity of 45% by 2030, in an attempt to see whether the Liberals could be persuaded to vote for their own mechanism post-election.

In the event Bill Shorten wins the next federal election, and the Liberals continue to reject the Neg, Labor plans to manage the transition to low-emissions energy with a policy instrument such as contracts-for-difference, or something similar.

Guardian Australia understands the plan agreed by shadow cabinet includes a industry policy framework to ensure renewables are rolled out in appropriate locations, consistent with an objective of achieving 50% renewables in the electricity grid by 2030, but also with an eye to ensuring grid security and reliability.

The policy is also expected to include measures to improve energy efficiency, and a transition plan for coal communities, given Labor’s higher emissions reduction target will drive a faster shift away from coal-fired power.

While Wednesday’s shadow cabinet deliberation concerned the energy policy offering for the looming federal election, the opposition has previously flagged taking measures beyond the electricity sector to reverse the trend of rising emissions in evidence since the repeal of the carbon price.

Emissions have been falling in Australia’s electricity sector, but rising in other sectors of the economy.

In an interview with Guardian Australia in August the shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, said the opposition was considering some form of emissions trading to drive abatement for liable entities – big polluters emitting more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon a year – and also mandatory vehicle emissions standards to curb rising pollution in the transport sector.

Shorten is expected to outline the key elements of Labor’s new energy plan in a speech on Thursday.

Shorten told reporters in Sydney Labor still wanted a bipartisan outcome on energy, but the Coalition could not take the process hostage. “We will work with the Coalition, but we won’t wait for them,” he said.

The Coalition during this term in office has been unable to agree on a policy that involves an emissions reduction component, and the acrimonious internal dispute over the Neg was a factor in the conservative-led coup against Turnbull in August.

Scott Morrison has junked the emissions reduction component of the Neg, which was set at 26%, and the government, which is in the middle of its own energy policy revamp, will campaign against Labor’s higher target.

But Shorten noted on Wednesday it would be hard for the Coalition to argue against the Neg “when they spent the best part of a year saying it was the best thing since sliced bread”.

Instead of 'fair dinkum' power, how about some 'fair dinkum' action? | Katharine Murphy Read more

Labor is persisting with the mechanism because it views the Neg as the last chance of securing a bipartisan position on energy policy, which is what most stakeholders say they want in order to create investment certainty to allow investment in multimillion-dollar assets with operating lives of several decades.

But it is also prepared to pursue plan B. The opposition has not fully resolved the instrument to guide the renewables rollout, but favours using contracts-for-difference – a derivative-like tool that hedges for price risk. The mechanism often works by allowing generators to be paid the difference between a strike price and a reference price.

New research, meanwhile, from the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute says boosting renewables would lead to significant job creation. It says between 7,300 to 12,500 jobs a year would be needed for the operation and maintenance of electricity generation, which matches the number of workers currently employed in the coal-fired power sector.