By Elishya Perera
SYDNEY, Australia (CWBN)_The United Nations has decided to block Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison from speaking at the global summit on Climate change this weekend.
The United Kingdom will be hosting this year’s conference in partnership with the UN and France. While British Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited Morrison to speak at the summit several weeks ago, however, the offer was withdrawn, following concerns regarding insufficient climate change policies set out by Canberra.
Although Slewin Hart, the climate advisor to UN secretary-general António Guterres, refused to comment on the participation of individual leaders, he did indicate that Australia did not meet the threshold needed to speak at the Summit.
“We will not be commenting on the participation of individual leaders […] But the three co-hosts – the UN, UK and France – provided all member states with very clear guidance from the outset that speaking slots would go to countries and other actors who show the most ambition right now,” he said.
Nevertheless, Morrison appeared to be unaffected by the UN’s decision, as the Prime Minister pointed out that many other countries, including New Zealand would not be speaking at the Summit either.
He added that Australia’s policies towards climate action are set out according to the country’s national interest and the needs and views of the people. “Australia’s policy when it comes to reducing emissions is set here in Australia – in Australia’s national interest – and our responsibility is to set that in a way that is consistent with the demands and needs and views of the Australian people and the science that supports that.”
While New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was also excluded from the list of nearly 80 world leaders who will be speaking at Saturday’s Summit, however, China, which has been building dozens of new coal-fired power plants, was given a spot.
Meanwhile, Hart insisted that we should celebrate the countries which have made bold and ambition commitments towards climate action, instead of focusing on those who did not make it to the list.
“Rather than focusing on those countries that are not on that list as of now, we really should be celebrating those that have decided to come forward this early – many of them from the developing world who despite the challenges of the pandemic, [are] on the frontlines of the climate crisis including many countries in the Pacific – to make bold and ambitious commitments around net zero,” he said.
