Australia has been accused of trying to “greenwash” its climate record by seeking to co-host an international summit with Pacific states despite “decades of inaction”.
Left-wing think tank the Australia Institute will today issue a report criticising the Albanese government for its bid to host the 2026 United Nations Conference of the Parties, also known as COP31.
“Australia has said co-hosting the COP will repair its reputation. A better place to start would be to stop subsidising and approving new gas and coal projects,” Australia Institute climate and energy program director Polly Hemming said.
“Awarding Australia COP hosting rights in anticipation of it changing its ways would be at best a case of putting the cart before the horse, and at worst a case of rewarding a country for decades of recalcitrance.”
In the report, titled “A fair COP31”, the think tank says the bid to host the conference would be a “positive development” because it would invite “international scrutiny of Australia’s climate ambition”.
It would also present the country’s Pacific neighbours “with an opportunity to demand that Australia face up to its responsibilities as a major per-capita emitter of greenhouse gases and the world’s third largest exporter of gas and coal”, the report says.
Crikey sent the report to Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen’s office on Thursday afternoon, asking for comment, but a spokesperson declined on Friday morning to issue any statement.
The report notes the governments of Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, Niue and the Solomon Islands have issued a joint resolution calling for urgent actions to address climate change.
“It should not be incumbent on Australia’s Pacific neighbours … to force Australia into acting like a responsible global citizen,” the report says.
“However, the urgency and scale of the existential threat climate change poses to Pacific nations mean they may have little choice than to leverage opportunities like COP31 to secure more climate action from Australia.”
When Bowen announced Australia’s intention to bid for the hosting rights, he said: “It’s an opportunity to work closely with our Pacific family, and we will seek to co-host the bid with the Pacific to help elevate the case of the Pacific for more climate action.”
The Australia Institute has previously been supportive of plans for Australia to host a COP summit.
“Labor’s indication that it will bid to co-host a future UN climate conference stands in stark contrast with the current government’s performance at [COP26 in] Glasgow, where the objective was to do as little as possible”, Richie Merzian, Hemming’s predecessor as climate and energy program director, said in 2021.
When we voted for them we did really pray for a progressive government that took social equity and the environment seriously.
Of course once they get the job and look at where their money’s coming from they change quickly. A great disappointment, and almost indistinguishable from their corrupt and lazy predecessors.
Better on international relationships, I’ll grant, but no courage to do what’s necessary and take on the fossil fuel barons.
On the upside; Labor’s “pragmatic” refusal to deliver progressive policies has cleared up any lingering misconceptions about Labor’s position on Australia’s political spectrum. Progressive, they are not. In the vanguard of the revolution; they are not.
Apparently, Labor has ambitions to become progressive if the Australian electorate grants it a third term.
Until them, we are told, we must be satisfied with governance that is barely distinguishable from the previous mob; which was the worst government in recent history.
fox to host chickens’ egg-laying summit
We elected them with no serious climate commitment. We chose to not vote Green, and so must cop it sweet! To be fair, we did elect 19 Green Lower House members .. that number distorted by our election system.
Maybe they’ll give out “Good Faith” bags of coal to everyone who comes through that door?
The image of handing out show bags containing lumps of coal is close to the mark. At a meeting that included the Indian PM, Kevin Rudd once tried to sell Australian coal as “clean”. Modi, who (claims to have) trained as an engineer, rejected him angrily. Australia had for years been blocking the sale of uranium to India, as it had not signed the NPT.
Given the revelations published yesterday regarding COP28 being headed by the president of a UAE petroleum corporation and said corporation having access to COP28 email servers, is this really even an issue? Realistically, the bar is set low – green washing vs actual bad faith actions.