Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expects emissions reduction targets will need to improve over coming decades but not by Australia acting alone.
Mr Turnbull has rejected Labor's plan to double Australia's existing emissions cut target without a similar commitment from other countries.
"I have no doubt emissions targets will move up in 2040 and 2050 ... but we should move up with the world," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Australia, under the coalition government, had "slipped to the back of the pack" in terms of climate action.
"The rest of the world in the last two years has added two million new jobs in renewable energy," he told reporters in Gatton on Wednesday.
"Australia's lost nearly 3000 jobs in renewable energy in the same time period."
Opposition climate spokesman Mark Butler said Labor's target was based on independent advice from the Climate Change Authority and would return it to the pack of comparable countries.
"Malcolm Turnbull has decided to accept the advice of Tony Abbott," Mr Butler said.
