The nation's top scientists have launched a mission that takes aim at the heart of the challenge facing Australia - cutting emissions while growing the economy.
CSIRO boss Larry Marshall says regions living with drought, flood and job losses don't need another challenge, and that's why the $90 million plan focuses on the farming and resources sectors that Australia is built on.
"This mission isn't just about working with the hard-to-abate industries," he said in a keynote speech to a business summit on Tuesday.
"It's done in deep consultation and close partnership within the communities across Australia, particularly regional Australia, where these industries exist."
Dr Marshall said cutting harmful methane emissions can be fast-tracked by "future feed" livestock supplements made from seaweed and developing technologies that take carbon out of the atmosphere.
Low-emission steel and iron ore, sustainable aviation fuel and projects to offset emissions are also part of the plan, with leading companies on board.
He said CSIRO is "convinced" hydrogen is part of Australia's future, whether that's used to create ammonia fuel or other derivatives.
CSIRO is also working on Australia's first stocktake of carbon sequestration potential, where soil and vegetation management could be key.
That includes contentious carbon capture and storage methods that critics say attract more than their fair share of taxpayer subsidies for little result.
"Countries across the world have shown, despite the criticism, that carbon capture and storage or carbon capture and utilisation is a necessary bet on the future," Dr Marshall said.
"There is no silver bullet for this massive two-thirds of our emissions challenge, so we're looking at everything," he said.
But Australia must not only cut today's industrial pollution, it must also change the way all sectors operate to make sure greenhouse gas emissions don't grow in the future.
Dr Marshall said the project would help Australia's hardest to abate sectors, including agriculture, aviation and steel, halve their emissions by 2035.
Industry Minister Ed Husic told AAP the mission is "a signal to industry that we want to work together, that there's been a new government that recognises this is an issue that needs to be confronted".
"There's a lot of opportunity there to build commercial value and jobs," he said.
He said the CSIRO mission gave industry a partner to problem solve with on their road to net zero.
Project lead Michael Battaglia said heavy emitters like the farming sector and iron ore processors needed help to reach their targets.
"We will specifically deal with these sectors and assist them to reduce their emissions," he told AAP.
"In working with them, we will start to develop all sorts of analytic frameworks and collaborative approaches that help us apply it to other sectors as well."
Dr Battaglia said the CSIRO was looking at how farmers reducing emissions and increasing sustainability could be rewarded for their work.
Embedding those into supply chain credentials starts to put a price on sustainability and allows some of the benefits to be passed back to farmers, he said.
As part of its mission strategy, the CSIRO worked with the Queensland agriculture department on how the farming sector could reduce emissions.
The report found methods to reduce methane from cattle could be the best way to lower emissions in the state's $18 billion agricultural food industry, and feed the world with sustainable food.
The red meat sector, of which Queensland contributes almost half of the herd, has a target of reaching net zero by 2030.
