The Fijian Prime Minister has warned Australia's climate targets must increase to net zero emissions by 2050 or risk sacrificing Pacific nations, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted he was not frustrated about missing a speaking spot at a global climate summit.
Mr Morrison addressed the Pacific Islands Forum about Australia's climate commitments on Friday night, but he will not speak at a larger summit in the early hours of Sunday morning after Australia was denied a spot.
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Prime Minister of Fiji Frank Bainimarama and Prime Minister Scott
Morrison during a signing ceremony in September 2019. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen |
"When it comes to climate change, I'm fond of saying every nation is in the same canoe. Currently, that collective canoe is taking on water and there are too few of us trying to patch the holes," he said.
"I am glad the Australian government has recognised you cannot fix those leaks with Kyoto credits.
"Every nation must put forward more ambitious emissions reduction targets by 2030 as part of a net zero commitment by 2050, and not one day later."
Likening Pacific island nations to a canary in a coal mine, he said he refused to allow "Fijians and our Pacific Island sisters and brothers to be some sacrificial canary for coal-burning countries and high-emitting companies."
"We must not stand idly by and watch the world's most vulnerable countries suffer, only to warn other, wealthier nations that their own fate will soon follow."
Mr Morrison dismissed the suggestion he was frustrated over this weekend's global summit, and he emphasised his message to Pacific Island Forum leaders about Australian help in dealing with climate change.
"We're committed to achieving net zero emissions as soon as possible," he said. "Our long term emissions reduction strategy to be launched ahead of COP26 will provide the necessary detail on our plan.
"We believe the what and the why are really no longer the issue. I think we're well beyond that now. Unless we can actually understand the how, then these things won't be achieved and achieving them is what matters.
"The how is so critically important and that's where Australia is focusing our efforts."
But government officials are privately furious and much of their anger is directed towards British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting the conference in partnership with the UN and France.
Mr Johnson invited Mr Morrison to speak at the December 12 summit several weeks ago but walked away from the offer this week amid a behind-the-scenes diplomatic tussle over whether Australia's climate change policies were insufficient to warrant a speaking slot.
The Prime Minister had planned to use his speech to announce Australia would drop its controversial plan to use Kyoto carryover credits to achieve its 2030 emissions reduction targets.
Selwin Hart, the special adviser to UN secretary-general António Guterres on climate action, said Australia had not met the threshold needed to speak.
"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.
He repeated the UN's position that countries should sign up to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 ahead of a major climate summit in Glasgow next November.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was also excluded from the list of nearly 80 world leaders given permission to address Saturday's summit.
China, which is building dozens of new coal-fired power plants but has committed to net zero emissions by 2060, was given a spot.
"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," Mr Hart said.
"Some have brought these commitments forward and I think we should celebrate those leaders who have come forward and decided to take this ambitious step before COP26.
"We have a long way to go before Glasgow and we hope that this coalition around net zero by mid-century will grow."
Mr Johnson offered Mr Morrison the chance to speak even though France, the UN and other supporting partners like Italy and Chile had a say on who made the final list.
The government is furious that Mr Johnson was unable to guarantee the promise. There had already been tensions between the UK and Australia over climate in the weeks since Downing Street publicly claimed Mr Johnson had urged Mr Morrison to take "bold action" during a phone call on October 28.
"He has thrown us under the bus," one government official said on Thursday.
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Suega Apelu bathes a child in the lagoon in Funafuti, Tuvalu. The
low-lying South Pacific island nation of about 11,000 people has
been classified as extremely vulnerable to climate change by the
United Nations Development Programme. Credit: Mario Tama |
Japan, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru and Cambodia are the only countries in the Asia-Pacific region given a speaking slot.
Mr Hart said the UN wanted to see more commitments on climate financing and appeared to take a swipe at Australia for not doing more to help its Pacific neighbours.
"Ten years ago developed countries promised to mobilise $US100 billion per year in new climate finance to support mitigation and adaptation in the developing world," he said.
"That goal has not yet been met."
Mr Morrison last year pledged to redirect more than half a billion dollars in foreign aid towards renewable energy projects and disaster relief throughout the Pacific.
Links
- (AU) Pacific Leaders Condemn Australia's Climate Target As 'One Of The Weakest' In Open Letter
- Preparing For When Climate Change Drives People From Their Homes
- Pacific Islands Must Stop Relying On Foreign Aid To Adapt To Climate Change, Because The Money Won’t Last
- Their Fate Isn’t Sealed: Pacific Nations Can Survive Climate Change – If Locals Take The Lead
- 'Happy To Pay Lip Service': Fiji PM Calls Out Australia At UN Conference
- Scott Morrison's Climate Pact With The Pacific 'Family' Exposes The Hollowness Of His Words
- Pacific Leaders Urge The World Not To Accept The 'Living Nightmare' Of Climate Change
- ‘Our People Are Dying’: Australia’s Climate Confrontation In The Pacific
- Scott Morrison's Betrayal Of The Pacific Was Immoral – And Completely Unnecessary
- What are Kyoto carryover credits and why do Australia's critics say they don't exist?
- UN defends excluding Morrison from climate summit, Canberra livid with Johnson over snub
- Morrison details Australia's climate change pledge without Kyoto credits
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