CANBERRA (CU)_Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison departed for Rome on Thursday (28 October), to attend the G20 meeting before proceeding to Glasgow for the much anticipated UN climate summit. In a statement issued ahead of his departure, PM Morrison noted that the pandemic and the climate crisis will be on the top of his agenda during his time overseas.
“COP26 will be crucial in the global effort to address the challenges of climate change,” the statement read. “I look forward to supporting Prime Minister Johnson, as host of COP26, to achieve our Paris Agreement objectives and collaborate to collectively deliver net zero emissions by 2050.”
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister decided to join his fellow leaders in the developed world by pledging to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, the announcement was not considered a cause for celebration by climate experts and environmental campaigners who pointed out that in his plan, the PM was quick to spell out what the government would not be doing to achieve carbon neutrality, explicitly stating that the focus is on “net zero, not absolute zero emissions”.
In his announcement, the Australian leader repeatedly ruled out introducing a tax on carbon which would create a disincentive on fossil fuel production. Instead, Canberra intends to reach the net zero goal by using technologies to achieve 85 per cent of the new target, although some of these technologies still remain largely unproven. Meanwhile, the remaining 15 per cent of the goal will be tackled by “further technology breakthroughs”, the government noted.
Accordingly, many belief that during the upcoming conference, PM Morrison will face calls to lift the Trans-Tasman nation’s climate targets beyond his 2050 pledge, particularly considering his administration’s failure in terms of a solid 2030 commitment.
During his visit, the Australian leader is expected to be reunited with former colleague Mathias Cormann, who is likely to press for stronger commitments from Australia, including a carbon pricing scheme.
According to the former Finance Minister, while there G20 economies have continued to lift their efforts and ambitions to tackle climate change, progress remains “uneven” across countries and sectors.
“We need a globally more coherent approach which enables countries to lift their ambition and effort to the level required to meet global net zero by 2050, with every country carrying an appropriate and fair share of the burden while avoiding carbon leakage and trade distortions,” Cormann, who is now the secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said. “Carbon prices and equivalent measures need to become significantly more stringent and globally better coordinated to properly reflect the cost of emissions to the planet, and put us on the path to genuinely meet the Paris Agreement climate goals.”
