'Everything we do now matters': Climate Council report calls for net zero emissions by 2035

Released on Wednesday, the report finds that "our global temperature is now rising faster than anything we have ever seen over the Earth's entire history", and paints a stark picture of deadlier heatwaves, extreme fire days, and large-scale ecosystem collapse without intervention.

Emerita Professor Lesley Hughes, who co-authored the report Mission Zero: How today's climate choices will reshape Australia, said that the country was standing at a precipice.

"This report paints a vivid contrast for Australia's century's end - one that is completely unrecognisable or one where much of what we cherish about our beautiful country has been saved," she said.

Australia is not on track to meet its already "inadequate" target of reducing emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, or reaching net zero by 2050, according to the report.

It finds that progress to reduce electricity emissions through transitioning to renewable energy is being "cancelled out" by rising emissions in other parts of the economy, and that - excluding land use and forestry - national emissions have fallen just 0.2 per cent since 2005.

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The report slams governments for squandering opportunities to reduce emissions, warning that "the window for avoiding catastrophe is now even narrower".

"No family, community or country will remain untouched by the far-reaching impacts of climate change," it says. The report goes on to say that low-income earners, First Nations peoples, and regional and rural residents will be disproportionately impacted.

But co-author and Climate Council research director Dr Simon Bradshaw said there was still time, and that "it's game on, not game over, for climate action".

"As we head into a summer of dangerous heat and fires, the reality is stark: there's no safe level of global warming," he said.

"Everything we do now matters. The only way we can turn down the heat is to get our emissions plummeting, and fast."

The report calls for a 75 per cent emissions cut by 2030, and net zero emissions by 2035 "so we can help hold global warming at the safest levels now possible, with a decent chance of success".

The report says that there remains just a "coin's-toss chance" to limiting warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of this century, and that civilisation will face existential threats if warming surpasses 2 degrees.