Net zero is all over the news as the Liberals and the Nationals fight over whether to keep it, but the political debate confuses what it really means.

While in political circles it's often used to loosely describe support for climate policies and the efforts to bring emissions down, it's actually a technical term for the point where temperatures will stabilise.

The Federal Liberal Party has agreed to scrap net zero from the Climate Change Act and repeal Labor's 2030 emissions reduction target if elected. Its Coalition partner, the Nationals, have already abandoned any support for net zero.

At the end of the day, without net zero, the world will continue to heat up.

What does net zero actually mean?

Climate change is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that trap heat from the Sun and cause temperatures to rise. When we release emissions by burning fossil fuels, they don't disappear; they accumulate, making the problem worse.

Net zero means reaching the point where we don't emit more emissions than can be absorbed, making it a zero-sum game. Either it's absorbed by forests, oceans and natural sinks, or technologies that can draw down and store carbon, or a combination of both.

Only then will temperatures stop rising.

As of today, there is no way to address climate change without drastically c