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| Chris Bowen at COP29 Photo: Scott Hamilton |
Australia will be represented at the ministerial level at COP29 by Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.
This year a key focus of the UN Climate Conference is Climate Finance, and development of The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).
| Pledges | Chris Bowen |
Australian Pledges at COP29
25 November 2024 - Minister Chris Bowen answered a question in the House of Representatives on what pledges Australia made at COP29: "We joined, for example, the Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, which is a very good thing to do. We joined the call to action for no new coal, at the request and suggestion of the United Kingdom government, and we signed the Australia-UK Climate and Energy Partnership."
See COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge which commits to "a collective goal of deploying 1,500 GW of energy storage in the power sector globally by 2030, more than six times the level of 2022, and to pursue efforts towards this goal"
See the Powering Past Coal Alliance: 25 Countries and the EU launch Call to Action for No New Coal in National Climate Plans . (Note this is about new domestic coal power and doesn't address export coal)
See DCCEEW: Australia and UK sign a new climate and energy partnership. The Partnership focusses on 2 key areas:
- Net zero technology cooperation. Cooperating on renewable energy technologies and investments. This includes hydrogen, offshore wind, energy storage and clean transport. As well as working on creating common standards for these technologies. This way, they can be used worldwide in a more efficient way.
- International climate cooperation. Focus and coordinate global climate action under the Paris agreement through our key multilateral groupings. This includes the G20, the IEA as well as the UNFCCC to drive global climate ambition.
20 November 2024 - Australia has joined with 24 other countries and the European Union in a Call to Action for No new Coal in National Climate Plans (Powering Past Coal Alliance) Meanwhile Australia is happy approving new coal mines for the export market (Renew Economy)
20 November 2024 - Chris Bowen delivers Australia's national climate statement at COP29 in Baku. This included an announcement of $50 million to the Loss and Damage Fund. (Climate Citizen)
20 November 2024 - Australia's Climate Minister Chris Bowen announces $50 million to the new Loss and Damage Finance Facility. This adds to Australia's previous commitments of $100 million commitment to the Pacific Resilience Facility, and $50 million contribution to the Green Climate Fund and the incorporation of climate change action as a central pillar of Australia’s international development program. (DCCEEW Ministerial media release)
19 November 2024 - Renewable Energy Council Asia-Pacific launches at COP29 (Smart Energy Council) Minister Chris Bowen spoke at the launch.
UK- Australia climate and energy partnership to cooperate on renewable energy technology and investment
Tuesday 19 November 2024: The Australian climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, and the UK minister for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband, on Tuesday morning in Baku signed a climate and energy partnership to cooperate on renewable energy technology and investment and help “coordinate global climate action under the Paris agreement”. (Guardian)
Nuclear Pact - Australia has declined to join UK and US-led nuclear energy development pact.
19 November 20924: A UK Government media release had initially included Australia with 9 other countries as part of this pact. The statement was later changed to remove Australia. Acting prime minister Richard Marles said Australia would not join a US and UK-led movement to accelerate civilian nuclear energy development, saying the technology "does not apply to us". (ABC News. See also Guardian)
"For Australia, pursuing a path of nuclear energy would represent pursuing the single-most expensive electricity option on the planet," Mr Marles said. "Because we do not have a civil nuclear industry, this agreement does not apply to us."
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek described nuclear power as an "energy fantasy" that would take 20 years and add $1,200 to household electricity bills while "keeping coal in our system for much longer".
"And because of that [it] will add 1.7 billion tonnes of extra carbon dioxide pollution to our atmosphere," she said.
"So we have a real choice — a slow, risky expensive transition to nuclear, or a fast certain transition to renewables that is already happening under us."
16 November 2024; At COP29, Australia announced $125 million to support the Pacific's renewable energy transition
Australia announced the funding which comprises a $75 million investment through the REnew Pacific program and $50 million through the Australia-Pacific Partnership for Energy Transition (APPET) program. (DCCEEW -ministerial Press release)
Delivered by the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, the ‘REnew Pacific’ program will help deliver off-grid and community scale renewable energy in remote and rural parts of the Pacific.
Australia's fair share of climate finance
Australian NGOs urge Australia to addrerss our fair share contribution to climate finance by calling on Australia to stand with the Pacific and:
- Support an ambitious USD 1 trillion climate finance goal;
- Commit to contributing its fair share in climate finance; and
- Urgently contribute to the global Loss and Damage Fund.
On Australia jointly Hosting COP31 with Pacific Nations in 2026
The Decision on Hosting COP31 in 2026 was pushed forward to the SBTI meeting in Bonn in June 2025. Both Turkey and Australia are bidding for this conference.
Earth Negotiations Bulletin (@IISD_ENB) reports on X on 19 Nov that "At #COP29, @AOSISChair are lending support to Australia's bid for hosting the @UNFCCC's COP 31, making it a Pacific COP"
22 November 2024 Decision on Hosting COP31 deferred. Draft text seems to indicate as neither Turkey or Australia has withdrawn their bid, the decision will be deferred to the SBTI meeting in Bonn in 2025.
18 November - Australia accused of climate ‘lip service’ over bid to host Pacific COP (Benar News) This decision may be opart of the decisions at the end of the COP. Australia is competing against Turkey to host the Conference. Chris Bowen had a brief stopover in Turkey on his way to Baku. Pacific Nations continue to call for Australia to align its fossil fuel expansion with its climate policy ambition.
Chris Bowen
Chris Bowen, with Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad, is leading the second week consultations on the development of The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) - a new global climate finance target that aims to help developing countries adapt to climate change and transition to low-carbon economies. So Bowen has a significant role at this conference.
22 November 2024. COP29 will certainly run well into overtime. While draft texts have been widely condemned, especially on the climate finance target, Bowen seems to think they can be worked with.
The Guardian COP29 Live page features this article on Chris Bowen on the draft texts: "A genuine attempt" - Australian take on the new text by Adam Morton
The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has responded to the latest text from the presidency, describing it as a “genuine attempt”.
He said there would be “long and tough conversations” into the night. “I think we’re in a genuinely finely balanced situation.”
Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy of Australia, here seen at the “Qurultay” intervention session following the release of new draft negotiation texts.
On the climate finance target, he said: “Any quantum conversation is going to be highly controversial. There has been a strong effort to try to get a quantum that is ambitious and achievable. There is no point in the developed world signing on to a quantum that they just don’t believe they can deliver, so that will be a key issue over coming hours.”
Speaking on behalf of the Umbrella Group of wealthy countries in the plenary on Thursday, Bowen was sharply critical of the lack of an explicit reference to the agreement in Dubai that the world needs to triple renewable energy by 2030 and transition away from fossil fuels.
He noted there had been changes on this in the latest text. It now says the summit “reaffirms the outcomes of the first global stocktake” - that is, what was agreed last year.
“Obviously I’m pleased that there is no explicit backsliding from the Dubai consensus. There are ongoing references to the work of that. I always like to have these things loud and explicit but that will be an ongoing conversation over the course of the evening,” he said.
Bowen did not speculate on when Cop29 might finish. He is scheduled to leave tomorrow night to be in the Australian parliament from Monday for the release of a national climate statement next week.
21 November 2024 - NGOs urge Australia's Chris Bowen to act in final days of COP29 to lead on landing a climate finance agreement that ensures a needs-based new global climate finance goal of over $1 trillion. (Action Aid)
ActionAid Australia Executive Director, Michelle Higelin, said:
“We are calling on Minister Bowen to redouble his efforts and ensure Australia is doing all that it can to deliver the US$1 trillion climate finance goal that the world needs.
Women across the Pacific are battling the daily realities of a heating planet – more frequent and severe storms, floods and rising seas. They urgently need funding to recover and rebuild when disasters hit, but Australia and other rich countries are refusing to include loss and damage in the new climate finance goal.
We are calling on Australia to show real leadership in the final days of COP29 – an ambitious climate finance goal will make or break COP29. The stakes could not be higher for women and their communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. If Australia wants to be a climate leader on the global stage, now is the opportunity.”
20 November 2024 - NCQG Climate Finance target: $1.3tn, $900bn, $600bn, $440bn, $100bn - all are numbers proposed by countries for the climate finance goal that COP29 must agree, reports Australian climate minister Chris Bowen (Guardian Live) Bowen said:
“I heard from developing countries a requirement of $1.3tn trillion of finance mobilised,” Bowen said. “But we heard different proposals for the split between the provided element [grants] and the element which would be mobilised [loans and private investment].”
“For example, we’ve heard three different proposals for the provided quantum of $900bn, $600bn and $440bn. Others have mentioned a floor of $100 billion, with linkages to the contributor base resolution, as well as sources and structure.”
20 November 2024 - Chris Bowen delivers Australia's national climate statement at COP29 in Baku. This included an announcement of $50 million to the Loss and Damage Fund. (Climate Citizen)
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