“We want to tell the story of what we’ve actually done on climate,” Sinodinos toldThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age in an interview at the ambassador’s official residence in Washington
“There’s been so much focus on the argy-bargy of the climate wars in Australia but what that overlooks is that a lot of action has been taken in terms of emissions reduction and investment in renewables.”
Biden will use the virtual summit next week on April 22-23,which will beattended by 40 of the world’s most powerful leaders,to reveal America’s 2030 emissions reduction target.
Biden is expected to announce a target in the range of a 50 per cent reduction based on 2005 levels,well above Australia’s current target of a 26–28 per cent cut over the same timeframe.
Despite the federal government’s technology road map,Australia is still viewed by climate scientists as a laggard because,when emissions from land use are excluded,its emissions have been increasing since 2014,while peer nations in Europe have found ways to force theirs down. (When land use emissions are included,emissions have decreased.)
Sinodinos,a close ally of Malcolm Turnbull during his time as prime minister,acknowledged that Australia’s story on climate action is “unfinished”. The Morrison government plans to announce new emissions reduction goals ahead of the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November.
But despite the gap between the two nations’ reduction targets,Sinodinos said the US and Australia had significant overlap on climate policy.
Like Australia,America appears to have taken carbon pricing off the table for now because of opposition from congressional Republicans and Democrats in states rich in fossil fuels.
Instead,the Biden administration will invest billions of dollars to spur the uptake of green technologies such as electric vehicles and offshore wind power.
“They realise we have similar transition issues to them – that we have issues around coal mining for example,which they have as well in places like West Virginia,” Sinodinos said.
He added that a previous source of friction had been removed because the Morrison government has abandoned plans to use so-called “carryover credits” to meet its climate targets.
Sinodinos said that Kerry has been working with Wall Street firms to convince them to make major pledges,worth up to $US1 trillion ($1.3 trillion),to cut carbon emissions over the next decade.
Nathan Hultman,who served as a senior climate official in the Obama administration,said:“President Biden wants to use this moment to say we are getting our house in order with an ambitious 2030 target and encourage ambition from other countries.
“At a minimum,he will be looking for Australia to come to the table with some proposed actions that will be helpful to get Australia on a track that keeps a pathway open to a 1.5 degree increase[in global temperatures].”