Coalition’s nuclear plan will hit Earth with 1.7bn extra tonnes of CO2 before 2050, experts warn

The Coalition has said it would remove bans on nuclear power and eventually use taxpayer funds to build reactors at seven existing coal plant sites. Until then, it would slow the rollout of renewable energy and use more fossil fuel electricity. Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake for The Guardian

Australia would emit far more climate pollution – more than 1.7bn extra tonnes of carbon dioxide – between now and 2050 under the Coalition’s nuclear-focused plan than under Labor’s renewable energy dominated policy, analysts say.

The opposition last week released modelling of its “coal-to-nuclear” plan that would slow the rollout of renewable energy and batteries and instead rely on more fossil fuel generation until a nuclear industry could be developed, mostly after 2040.