The minister made the remarks at a WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry event this morning as she launched the development of the government's Sectoral Emissions Reduction Strategy.
"We need significant action this decade to leverage green capital to support the transition of energy intensive industries, protect our economy, and importantly, limit global warming," she said.
"It's about working with industry to manage our transition to net zero to protect our international competitiveness and support new industry."
Western Australia's emissions have gone up by around 20% since 2005, primarily due to the state's LNG, mining, and manufacturing industries.
The government notes stationary energy, excluding electricity generation, accounted for 31.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2019; electricity generation accounted for 25MMtCO2e.
The government aims to reach net zero emissions across the economy by 2050; however, unlike other Australian states the target has not been legislated.
Sanderson noted that the government would set a target for government agencies and trading enterprises, such as Synergy and Western Power in the coming months and would deliberate on a broader economy-wide target.
"In consultation with industry, we're also considering interim targets for the border economy to set a strong image and provide a signal for investment and certainty for businesses."
However, the government has emphasised that not all sectors need to transition at the same pace, arguing that some areas "may be constrained by technical limitations, existing infrastructure or stock turnover".
"Many businesses will rely on land-based offsets to meet their own interim targets, generating significant demand for local carbon farming projects in WA," the government said.
Clean State director Olivia Chapman told Energy News that WA was lagging behind on legislated climate action.
"It was great to hear the minister confirm the government will introduce 2030 interim emissions reduction targets for the state and for state government entities, however we are yet to learn what those targets will be and when they will be introduced," she said, noting that government's strategy will not be finalised until the end of 2023.
Anderson said that time was needed to conduct economy-wide modelling and emissions projections to underpin the strategy, which it will begin work on early next year.
The government said the strategy will be overseen by the Ministerial Taskforce on Climate Action to ensure whole-of-government coordination.
APPEA director Claire Wilkinson said industry looked forward to working with the government, saying natural gas will play a role in decarbonising by firming intermittent renewables.
"Natural gas allows for more renewables to be integrated into the grid due to the short start-up time needed for gas-fired generators," she said.
Wilkinson said APPEA would aim to avoid "unintended consequences or regulatory duplication that could impact investment in Western Australia.
"We are also focussed on operational improvements such as minimising flaring and venting that have already reduced emissions," she said.
"The WA oil and gas industry looks forward to working with government to deliver the most consistent and appropriate settings to reduce emissions and appreciates the minister's collaborative approach."
350 Boorloo Perth campaigner Anthony Collins told Energy News that he was concerned the strategy did not convey the urgency required to decarbonise the economy.
"The government appears to be relying on the aspirational commitments, from the likes of Woodside and Chevron, to reduce the emissions of WA's most polluting sector," he said.
"For so long as the state government continues to back - and indeed celebrate - highly polluting fossil fuel developments, such as Woodside's Scarborough gas, announcements like this will continue to be treated with a great deal of scepticism."
The strategy launch document is availiable here.
