The commitment to a 62-70 per cent emissions reduction by 2035 was unveiled by the federal government on Thursday after more than year in the pipeline.
The mid-2030s target was accompanied by a suite of policy announcements to get there.
Energy, industry and transport are expected to do the heavy lifting.
A total of $5 billion will be ring-fenced from an existing industry fund for cutting emissions in hard-to-abate heavy industry.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has also been granted a $2 billion top-up to grease the wheels of the renewables transition.
As much as $40 million has also been set aside to install more kerbside chargers to power electric vehicles, with funding also earmarked to help households and businesses cut energy use.
The six sector plans showed industry and investors the most feasible decarbonisation pathways beyond 2030, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said.
"The global shift to clean energy is the biggest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution and it presents Australia with our best-ever economic opportunity," he said.
The minister also stopped short of guaranteeing power prices go down as more renewable energy enters the grid.
"I can guarantee that renewables are the cheapest form of energy," he told the ABC's 7.30.
The Superpower Institute, which has long framed decarbonisation and clean export industries as a major economic opportunity for Australia, warned the nation would struggle to hit the top of its 2035 range under existing policy settings.
"If Australia is to achieve a credible and ambitious emissions reduction target of a minimum of 70 per cent, we need to energise the private sector," said chair of the think tank Rod Sims.
"The way to do this is to put a price on carbon so that fossil fuel producers pay for the damage their products do to the environment."
Carbon pricing remains a politically-fraught issue, though Professor Sims warned companies would not cut emissions unless they had a clear incentive to do so.
Australia does have the Safeguard Mechanism, aimed at big polluters, and it could be toughened up following a legislative review in 2026.
Thursday's 2035 targets provoked a range of responses, with environmental groups hoping for more ambition while business warned even the lower end of the range would be challenging.
On the backdrop of Liberal infighting over climate policy, the federal opposition came out hard, with leader Sussan Ley labelling the targets and plan a "train wreck".
The opposition believes the target is "unachievable without a massive intervention", while the Greens are no less withering, but from a different perspective.
"Labor has given up on the science and listened to their coal and gas donors," Senator Larissa Waters said, arguing for a target of at least 75 per cent.
Given that, Mr Bowen is unlikely to seek to legislate the target.
"If the Greens indicate a willingness to vote for it, we'll take it to the parliament," Mr Bowen told ABC's 7.30.
"If not, we won't."
The contribution to global emissions cuts landed days after a diabolical report on Australia's expected climate impacts, including a warning that 1.5 million people could be exposed to coastal hazards from rising seas by 2050.
11°C