Australia's opposition unveils ambitious new renewable energy target ahead of party conference

Australia's opposition leader will use this weekend's Labor Party national conference to unveil an ambitious new 50 percent renewable energy target (RET) by 2030.

According to Fairfax Media, Bill Shorten will use the meeting to discuss the new agenda, which has been formed in order to gain green backing and contrast Prime Minister Tony Abbott's somewhat indifferent attitude towards climate change.

The announcement of an RET of 50 percent in just 15 years would make global warming the hot topic going into the next federal election, with Shorten admitting it would be Labor's "center-piece of our response to the challenge of climate change."

Shorten has again ruled out the reintroduction of the controversial carbon tax which contributed to Labor's capitulation at the 2013 election, despite a supposed leak of his party's climate change policy last week which suggested the contrary.

Instead, Shorten stated that his bold, new agenda would pave the way for a milder carbon emissions trading scheme.

"We will take steps to reduce (carbon) pollution and will not be intimidated by ridiculous (Liberal) scare campaigns," Shorten told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.

"Let me make this clear: Labor will not introduce a carbon tax (but) we will have sensible policies designed to reduce pollution over time, with minimal impact on households and businesses."

Both sides of politics committed to producing 23.5 percent of current electricity production through renewables by 2020.

Should Labor's plan succeed, the renewable sector, mostly made up of wind and solar power, would have to more than double in size in the following decade up until 2030.

The current target for 2020 still has a long way to go as, last year, 86.5 percent of Australia's energy came from fossil fuels, meaning renewables contributed to a comparatively-meager 13.5 percent of energy produced -- a figure well below the global average.

Labor's new, 50 percent RET would push Australia to a much higher position on the list of environmentally-conscious countries, with Denmark also outlining a 50 percent RET target, but by 2020.

Abbott's Liberal government has not yet outlined its post-2020 RET, however it is expected to make an announcement sometime in August.

The next federal election is tipped to occur any time between the last quarter of 2015 and the third quarter of 2016.

The Labor Party's national conference will take place from Friday until Sunday, in Melbourne. Endi