24/05/2021

(AU SBS) Australia Accused Of Being 'Out-Of-Step' On Climate As G7 Agrees To Stop International Funding For Coal

SBS

In a communique, the Group of Seven nations - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - plus the European Union said "international investments in unabated coal must stop now".

The IEA says all future fossil fuel projects must be dropped to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Source: AP
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned that Australia is more "out-of-step" with its allies than ever on the issue of climate change after G7 countries agreed to stop international funding for coal-fired power.

The world’s seven largest advanced economies agreed on Friday to stop international financing of coal projects that emit carbon by the end of this year, and phase out such support for all fossil fuels, to meet globally agreed climate change targets.

Stopping fossil fuel funding is seen as a major step the world can make to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, which scientists say would avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.

Australia doesn't finance overseas coal projects, but Mr Turnbull said Australia's “coal-hugging gas-loving sentiment” made it an outlier.

“I cannot recall Australia ever being so out-of-step with our friends and allies as we are today on climate,” he tweeted. Dr Simon Bradshaw, a researcher on climate science and impacts at the Climate Council, said such projects are proof Australia is behind the rest of the world on climate change.

“This is hugely significant for Australia, and it’s really showing just how out-of-step we now are with international action on climate change and fossil fuels,” he told SBS News.

“By continuing to fund fossil fuels, we’re really starting to trash our reputation internationally. Our biggest allies and trading partners are sure of where they’re going - out of coal and into renewables. We need to be doing the same.”

Dr Bradshaw warned there were “very clear implications” for Australia’s future, saying we will “trash our international reputation” and put ourselves at “a lot of economic self-harm”.

“We have to stop hedging our future economy on coal and gas. This is gonna further speed the world’s move beyond fossil fuels. It’s gonna further diminish the market for coal and gas exports.

"It’s really telling us yet again that we need to be moving further away from fossil fuels as a nation, and explore the enormous potential in renewable energy.”

Australia was a guest at the virtual G7 meeting, with Environment Minister Sussan Ley telling peers the country is "building climate resilience through practical actions to adapt and manage risks, and protect communities, lives and livelihoods".

Energy Minister Angus Taylor, meanwhile, said Australia supported and welcomed the G7's focus on action.

"For our part, we are committed to achieving net zero emissions as soon as we can, and preferably by 2050, and to meeting and exceeding our 2030 commitment, as we already have with our 2020 commitments," he said. "We are already well and truly on track to do this."

'International investments in unabated coal must stop now'

The G7 getting Japan on board to end international financing of coal projects in such a short timeframe means those countries, such as China, which still back coal are increasingly isolated and could face more pressure to stop.

In a communique, which Reuters saw and reported on earlier, the Group of Seven nations - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - plus the European Union said "international investments in unabated coal must stop now".

"(We) commit to take concrete steps towards an absolute end to new direct government support for unabated international thermal coal power generation by the end of 2021, including through Official Development Assistance, export finance, investment, and financial and trade promotion support," they said. 

School students hold up placards as they march at a School Strike 4 Climate rally during a mass school strike for climate action in Melbourne on May 21, 2021. GETTY

Coal is considered unabated when it is burned for power or heat without using technology to capture the resulting emissions, a system not yet widely used in power generation.

Alok Sharma, president of the COP26 climate summit, has made halting international coal financing a "personal priority" to help end of the world's reliance on the fossil fuel, calling for the UN summit in November to be the one "that consigns coal to history".

He called on China to set out its "near-term policies that will then help to deliver the longer-term targets and the whole of the Chinese system needs to deliver on what President Xi Jinping has set out as his policy goals".

Calls from green groups to 'be more specific'

The G7 nations also agreed to "work with other global partners to accelerate the deployment of zero emission vehicles", "overwhelmingly" decarbonising the power sector in the 2030s and moving away from international fossil fuel financing, although no specific date was given for that goal.

They reiterated their commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement aim to cap the rise in temperatures to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times and to the developed country climate finance goal to mobilise US$100 billion annually by 2020 through to 2025.

US climate envoy John Kerry urged countries in the Group of 20 world's largest economies to match the measures.

But some green groups said while they welcomed the steps, the G7 needed to set a stricter timetable.

Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: "Too many of these pledges remain vague when we need them to be specific and set out timetabled action."

In a report earlier this week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) made its starkest warning yet, saying investors should not fund new oil, gas and coal supply projects if the world wants to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.

The number of countries which have pledged to reach net zero has grown, but even if their commitments are fully achieved, there will still be 22 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide worldwide in 2050 which would lead to temperature rise of around 2.1C by 2100, the IEA said in its "Net Zero by 2050" report.

Additional reporting by Reuters.

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