But all the free coffee in the world is not going to cover for Australia’s utter failure to rise to the challenge at this global climate summit.
We’re proud Australians. Our plucky country has been the source of many world-changing innovations. Australian ingenuity has helped beat cancers and restore hearing. It’s helped drive down the cost of solar power. At our best,there is no challenge we cannot overcome. But in Glasgow at the UN climate talks,over these past two weeks,we’ve felt embarrassed.
Australia’s intransigence on climate makes us the outlier on the world stage,heckling from the wings. Almost every comparable developed economy brought a credible commitment to slash emissions at least 50 per cent by 2030 and a clear policy vision to back it up. We brought the “Australian Way”:a grab bag of slogans delivered by the Prime Minister to a near-empty hall and the Santos pop-up stall in our national pavilion – a state-sponsored promotional opportunity for a fossil fuel giant spruiking the fraudulent climate “solution” that is carbon capture and storage.
Thankfully,many other countries brought their A-game to COP26,and there was much over the past two weeks that has given us hope. The opening days saw a series of new agreements designed to accelerate action and help keep alive the ultimate goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees:from a new global pledge to reduce emissions of methane – a highly potent greenhouse gas – to deals on coal phase-out,deforestation,climate finance and more. Australia was conspicuously absent from most of these.
At every COP there are moments when someone manages to cut through the noise with a brutally honest and rousing speech or other intervention. This year it was Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley,who excoriated leaders for failing on the promises of the Paris Agreement,demanding that they“try harder”. In a similarly powerful moment,Tuvalu foreign minister Simon Kofe gave a speech by video link – at a lectern,dressed in suit and tie,whileknee-deep in the ocean. Yes,for his low-lying Pacific island nation,climate change is an existential threat.
At the beginning of the second week,Australian bushfire survivor Jo Dodds held a press conference outside the Australian pavilion with fellow bushfire survivors from the US,Canada and Turkey.
As the talks entered their end game,news broke of a new deal between the US and China,who – despite their differences – have committed to working together to accelerate action on climate change. Yet another sign that the world is moving while Australia is standing still.