Liberal leader Sussan Ley has promised to scrap the government's commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 if her party wins the next election, claiming the move would lead to cheaper energy bills for households and businesses.
"The Liberal Party I lead will not stand by and let Australians get crushed by these high power prices," she told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
"I can look Australians in the eye and say that prices will always be more affordable under us."
Ms Ley insisted her party would remain in the Paris climate accord, a landmark agreement that Australia signed when the coalition was last in power.
Every five years under the deal, nations are expected to make a new commitment to reduce emissions, which must be more ambitious than their previous one.
The Liberals are promising to scrap the government's climate targets and a number of policies aimed at helping achieve the goals.
But Ms Ley appeared to not be concerned if her plan put Australia in breach of the Paris Agreement.
"We will look Australians in the eye and say this is a plan to bring down emissions and to provide affordable energy for you," she said.
"And if there are reasons why people in Paris or in some United Nations organisation don't like it, I can deal with that."
Ms Ley said she was committed to bringing down emissions in the long term, but said reducing power bills was her main priority.
Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan pointed to carbon capture and storage technologies as a way to lower emissions year-on-year.
He also argued existing coal power stations would need to stay online for longer and government subsidies could be provided to new coal and gas plants, saying his party would take a "technology-agnostic" approach.
"We will use all available resources ... to drive downward pressure on energy prices," he said.
The commitment to walk away from net zero came after a gathering of the Liberal shadow cabinet and a marathon party room meeting on Wednesday.
Climate change has become a deeply divisive issue among Liberals, with the conservative flank, which makes up a majority of MPs and senators, pushing for net zero to be dumped.
Moderates campaigned for the party to stay committed to the target, and some flagged they could quit the front bench if their colleagues backed away from their existing net-zero pledge.
The Liberals must now negotiate a joint position with their coalition partner the Nationals, who ditched net zero earlier in November.
Nationals leader David Littleproud said Australia's contribution should not "streak ahead" of comparable economies failing to do their share of climate action.
"I give the commitment over the coming couple of days that the National Party will work constructively with (the Liberals) to finalise our coalition policy that will start that conversation not about science, the science is settled, but about the economics," he said.
"We're not running away from climate change."
Mr Tehan, moderate Anne Ruston and conservative Jonno Duniam will sit down with Nationals senators Matt Canavan, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald before a joint party room meeting on Sunday to rubber-stamp a policy.
Achieving net zero means balancing the amount of greenhouse gases produced by humans with the amount being removed from the atmosphere.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said dropping net zero would take Australia backwards.
"Australians cannot afford to keep paying the price of coalition infighting when it comes to climate policy and energy policy," he told reporters in Sydney.
Abandoning net zero undermined the rollout of low-cost renewables and would not do anything to cut power bills, the Australian Conservation Foundation said.
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