Australia at COP26 diary

UN climate conference, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) is ocurring in Glasgow from Monday November 1 to Friday November 12, 2021 (but may also go overtime into the weekend). This is my digital diary of Australia at COP26. I may not be able to be present in Glasgow but I can still follow whats going on. Follow with me.

You can watch press conferences, main plenaries at the UNFCCC COP26 livestream site program. Civil Society have organised Climate Fringe TV that includes livestream events.

15 November: 

Glasgow Climate Pact outcomes: ambition, but too slow to prevent catastrophic climate impacts

A list of what COP26 achieved, but also the failure to live up to what the science requires. The Emissions Gap has diminished, but is still subtantial. Responses from Australia Institute, Climate Council and Australian Conservation Foundation. Major signal that coal is on it's way out, but also more subtle signals for phase out of oil and gas. Blog: Glasgow Climate Pact

Deconstructing Australia's National statement on climate action at COP26 delivered by Scott Morrison

Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the UN climate change conference COP26 and made Australia's national statement speech in Glasgow in the early hours of Tuesday morning. I have provided the statement below in paragraph form along with a factcheck and debunk alongside to better understand and unpack the information.

At the leaders summit the following new commitments were made (Australia's barely gets a mention in finance): 

• India, Thailand, Nepal, Nigeria and Vietnam make new net zero pledges which now means that 90% of the global economy is covered by net zero commitments. 
• India’s announcement also included a suite of ambitious 2030 commitments, including  500GW non fossil fuel power capacity, 50% energy requirements from renewable sources and 45% reduction of the carbon intensity of the economy. 
• New NDC announcements from: Argentina, Brazil, Guyana, India, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique and Thailand 
• New Long-Term Strategies announced or submitted by Jamaica, Kazakhstan and the USA. 
• On climate finance, we’ve seen new commitments from: Ireland, Spain, Australia and Luxembourg.

Morrison at the G20 in Rome - blocking coal phaseout and deflecting climate ambition

G20: Macron and Merkel sit talking while Morrison alone

Before COP26 in Glasgow leaders of the G20 countries will be meeting in Rome on 30-31 October. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will attend both high level leaders meetings.

While there is a block of countries working on phaseout of coal, Australia joins India and China in resisting G20 call to phase out coal.

The Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) on 20 October issued a statement saying COP26 must consign coal power to history. Since its creation in 2017 by the United Kingdom and Canadian governments, the PPCA has grown to more than 130 members, including countries, cities, regions and businesses around the world. This includes 41 national Governments. In Australia subnational governments of The ACT, Cityof Sydney and  City of Melbourne have endorsed the PPCA.

Guest video: Fact-checking & Debunking Morrison's Net Zero 2050 'Plan' | Good COP Bad COP

The Australia Institute:

So Scott Morrison and Angus Taylor announced a net zero emissions by 2050 plan that projects that things will go wonderfully and that they won't need to change anything, especially not phasing out fossil fuel! How good.

However, their supposed confidence in beating their very weak 2030 target isn't enough to actually legislate any changes or increased commitments. This one is a real bin fire, and to help us along, and in honour of COP26 beginning in Glasgow very soon, we're drinking Scotland's finest scotch. Join us as we unpack loads of spin, mistruths and discuss what Australia should actually be taking to COP. (Hint: support and protection of the fossil fuel industry doesn't make the cut)

Morrison Net Zero 2050 Plan a fraud, with plans to double coal exports, new gas expansion

Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor with 'Net zero Plan' slide

Prime Minister Scott Morrison accompanied by Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor announced Australia's commitment to Net Zero by 2050. But there will be no change to the 26-28% emissions reduction target by 2030 that was submitted in 2015 to the Paris Agreement.

ABC political analyst Laura Tingle commented "All this time to wait for a 15 page slide set with literally nothing new in it...." and "The plan is based on our existing policies".

Australia is taking a technology not taxes meet and cheat projection to Glasgow, which is another way of climate delay and denial while expanding fossil fuel production. 

"You will be supported by our data projection that will see us exceed our 2030 target with emissions reduction of up to 35% by 2030. We will keep our commitment, though, when it comes to our pledge that we made, and took to the last election of 26 to 28%, but we will meet it, and we will beat it. And we’ll beat it with emissions reductions we believe about the 35%." said Morrison. 

Yeah the work of all the states will see Australia achieve 37-42% emissions reduction. Federal Government doing SFA according to modelling on 2030 climate targets.

"This is the right plan for Australia – to summarise the outcome from it, which we’ll see in the plan, Australians $2,000 better off on average in 2050 compared with no Australian action." says Angus Taylor. 

But acting fast with renewables with strong 2030 targets showed citizens would be $5000 better off according to Business Council of Australia report. Guardian Australia Politics Live

Find below Ministerial press release, video of the press conference, some twitter commentary, and statements by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and shadow Climate spokesperson Chris Bowen.

IPCC climate science report: code red for humanity says UN Secretary General

 

"Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 Report is a code red for humanity.  The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable:  greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible." said Antonio Guiterres, UN Secretary General upon the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th assessment report on the Physical science.

"The internationally agreed threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius is perilously close. We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5 degrees in the near term. The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts, and pursuing the most ambitious path. We must act decisively now to keep 1.5 alive." said Guiterres in an official statement.

Biden Climate Summit: Australia Fails to Deliver, remains a global outsider and climate laggard

Here is a quick summary in graphic and point form where the main countries line up on climate commitments at the end of the Climate leaders summit organised by USA President Joe Biden in his first 100 days of leadership:

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made:

• no change in Australia's low targets.
• no commitment to net zero by 2050 target.
• produced meaningless statistics that don't stack up
• slagged off the work of other countries
• talked up hydrogen without explaining much of this will be blue hydrogen from coal and gas
• thanked some of Australia's highest emitting companies, part of the problem
• tried to carve out emissions from our fossil fuel exports (Australia is 3rd largest carbon exporter)
• talked up the hired help: Allan Finkel and his contribution (including to the gas led recovery)

Bushfires and climate change: Australian Prime Minister denies the evidence

With highest per capita emissions, Australia needs to reduce emissions faster for reducing extreme event risk including Bushfires. Source: The Australia Institute

The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says no evidence links Australia's carbon emissions to bushfires, yet he has been strongly contradicted on link between emissions and bushfires.

The scientific evidence is clear that Climate change is driving catastrophic mega fires.

Australia is not prepared - fire authorities and scientists have been warning governments for years and they haven't acted to reduce bushfire risk by implementing a strong climate and energy policy.

Governments have failed to properly equip and resource our firefighters to deal with a longer fire weather period, much hotter and more intense bushfires.

As part of it's duty of protection of public safety, the Federal Government should be honest with the community about their role.

Australian missing in action at UN Climate Action Summit

It has been well noted that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not attend the UN Climate Action Summit.

Indeed, the Secretary General made clear that only those nations that brought updated plans would be allowed to speak. But the Australian Prime Minister could still have attended. The Government chose not to, as the Morrison Government has no plan for extra ambition, no speech written, no climate and energy policy of substance.

Australian total emissions continue to rise, with National Greenhouse Gas Inventory to March 2019 showing a 0.6% increase.

Budget2016 fails on climate change: environment & climate NGOs respond

Article originally published at nofibs.com.au

The Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison delivered the Federal budget without once mentioning in his speech (Full text at Sydney Morning Herald) climate change, renewables, phase out of coal or transitioning to clean energy economy. This Government, though it recently signed the Paris Agreement, is in effect in climate denial going into the July 2nd Federal election.

The Treasurer's only related reference was to the abolition of the carbon tax. The Abbott/Turnbull government kept the tax scales that Labor introduced as compensation for introduction of carbon pricing. So although high income earners and companies get a tax cut in this budget, everyone on low income has already had our tax reward back in 2012, and hence get nothing.

"This change also builds on the tax cuts provided to those on incomes of less than $80,000 to compensate for the carbon tax. By abolishing the carbon tax and keeping the tax relief in our first budget we delivered a genuine tax cut for those earning up to $80,000 a year."- Scott Morrison

I'll leave others more qualified to comment on the economic and political ramifications of this budget. But the absence of any mention of the environment, of transitioning the economy away from coal to renewables and a clean energy future, and the tens of thousands of new jobs this would create, makes it clear this government is firmly stuck in the past. They use the word innovation a lot (5 times in the Treasurers speech), but it is more marketing than actual substance in supporting and funding the science and education in transforming to a low carbon economy.