with Pacific neighbours before the Fiji pre-COP talks
| Key Points |
|
Marica Malumuca, 66, likens her tent in Fiji to a balloon when heavy rain bulges the canvas.
Two cyclones cracked the ground beneath her village of Nabavatu in 2021. She has waited five years in a temporary settlement of 37 tents.[1]
That story sits behind the pre-COP31 talks, a set of preparatory meetings now under way in Fiji.
The meetings precede November's United Nations COP31 climate summit.
Canberra promotes renewables at home, yet Pacific governments keep pointing to its coal and gas exports.[1]
Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo calls planned fossil fuel expansion in Australia and elsewhere a “death sentence”.
Some Pacific leaders repeatedly call on Australia to stop expanding fossil fuel projects.[1]
Tuvalu and Vanuatu lead the public criticism of Australia's latest approvals. Vanuatu's Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu says Australia should at minimum stop future expansion, and it fails to do so. Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says the best help Australia can offer is renewable energy support.[1]
Tuvalu averages only two metres above sea level and faces inundation as early as 2050. In Fiji, cyclones have left families living in tents. More than half of Pacific infrastructure sits in coastal areas exposed to rising seas.[1][7]
UNSW researcher Wes Morgan says emissions from coal and gas exports more than double those of Australia's domestic economy. He argues that this record contradicts the partnership narrative Canberra pursues with Pacific island countries. He calls the export of coal and gas Australia's biggest contribution to the climate crisis.[1]
Extending Hunter Valley Operations would add an estimated 809 megatonnes of greenhouse gas to the atmosphere. A megatonne equals one million tonnes. The plans also allow the mine to extract an estimated 430 million tonnes of coal.[1]
The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission approved a 19-year extension of the mine on 30 September. Glencore and Yancoal can now mine to 2045 at the largest coal project in the state's history.[2][3]
About 98 per cent of the project's emissions are Scope 3, released when importing countries burn the coal. The commission acknowledged that share in its decision. Paris Agreement accounting counts emissions where fuel burns, so exported coal never appears in Australia's national inventory.[3]
Resources Minister Madeleine King opened a new gas project in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin. A day later, at the Pacific Islands Forum, Vanuatu's Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu said Australia was doing too little.[1]
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced a $7.29 million package to accelerate renewable energy across the Pacific. The money funds grid modelling, technical experts and an early careers program for energy professionals. A separate memorandum of understanding backs Vanuatu's transition, and the announcement quotes one regional figure.[4]
Expansion of gas and coal is a “slap in the face” for Pacific governments, ABC News reports. Those governments seek a partner on what they see as an existential threat. Aid and resilience funding sit awkwardly beside exports that deepen that threat.[1]
The $7.29 million forms part of the $50 million Australia-Pacific Partnership for Energy Transition, known as APPET. Attendees noted that the package repeats an earlier announcement rather than adding new money.[5]
The Vanuatu memorandum commits Australian tools and expertise to integrate cheap solar energy into Vanuatu's grid. It also supports a skilled local workforce. Bowen says the agreement strengthens Vanuatu's energy sovereignty.[4]
The Albanese Government targets 82 per cent renewable electricity by 2030. Renewables supplied 49.9 per cent of generation in the National Electricity Market, the main east coast grid, in late 2025. Bowen says Australia remains on track while conceding challenges.[6]
The NSW Net Zero Commission, an independent state body, advised that new coal extensions conflict with legislated targets. Those targets sit in the state's Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act, and the advice cites the Paris Agreement. The planning commission approved the mine anyway, reasoning that importing countries will account for the emissions.[3]
The Australian Greens demand that Labor rule out federal approval for the project before COP31. They say the decision now sits on the desks of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Murray Watt. In their view, Pacific talk of climate leadership contradicts approving hundreds of millions of tonnes of new coal.[8]
Bowen defends Australia's approach by pointing to progress on renewable energy. The mine still needs federal approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. That national law guards threatened species and ecosystems, and environment groups urge Canberra to reject the project.[9]
Australia serves as President of Negotiations for COP31, the United Nations climate summit in November. The Australia Institute and Australian Conservation Foundation ran a Fiji Times advertisement apologising for the coal expansion. Some Pacific leaders question Australia's climate record, which tests its credibility as lead negotiator.[8][9]
Australia joined Pacific Islands Forum leaders in endorsing the Boe Declaration on Regional Security in 2018. The declaration names climate change as the single greatest threat to Pacific livelihoods, security and wellbeing. It also commits signatories to limit global warming to 1.5°C.[1]
At the pre-COP meetings, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said world leaders must listen to Pacific communities and act. She warned that concern without action offers no defence against rising seas.[9]
The Falepili Union, a climate and security treaty with Australia, takes its name from the Tuvaluan word for good neighbourliness. Weeks after Tuvalu ratified it in 2024, climate minister Maina Talia called new fossil fuel projects “immoral and unacceptable”. He said the approvals questioned Australia's claim to be a “member of the Pacific family”.[10][7]
Australia offers the Pacific solar funding, grid modelling and a leading role in climate diplomacy. It also approves coal and gas projects that Pacific governments describe as a threat to their survival. Both facts shape how Pacific neighbours judge Canberra.
The evidence shows a gap between domestic progress and exported emissions. Roughly 98 per cent of the Hunter Valley emissions fall outside Australia's national inventory. The Pacific funding also draws on an existing program.
Accountability now rests with federal decision makers. The fate of Hunter Valley Operations will show whether climate diplomacy shapes resource governance. Communities from Nabavatu to Tuvalu will judge the answer.
1. Pacific leaders challenge Australia's fossil fuel expansion ahead of pre-COP31 talks in Fiji. ABC News report carrying Teo's warning, Regenvanu's criticism, the 809 megatonne estimate, the Boe Declaration and the Fiji displacement account.
2. Largest climate policy failure: Giant NSW coal mine extension approved, with conditions attached. Renew Economy report on the Independent Planning Commission approving the full 19-year extension to 2045.
3. NSW's largest coal mine project is set to expand. Here's what authorities got wrong about the trade-offs. Expert analysis of the roughly 98 per cent Scope 3 share, the Net Zero Commission advice and the commission's reasoning.
4. $7.29 million to strengthen Pacific energy security. Australian Government media release announcing the Pacific package and the Vanuatu memorandum of understanding.
5. 1.5°C to stay alive: Pacific countries demand the world makes good on climate promises. Pre-COP explainer noting that the $7.29 million forms part of the existing $50 million energy partnership.
6. Bowen says renewables transition on track after 7 GW added to grid in 2025. Trade report on the 82 per cent target and the 49.9 per cent renewable share in the December 2025 quarter.
7. Australian climate action must go beyond 'lifeline' for Tuvalu. Lowy Institute analysis of Tuvalu's elevation, inundation risk and the origin of the Falepili Union's name.
8. Labor must reject Hunter Valley coal mine before COP31. Australian Greens media release setting out their demand on federal approval and Australia's COP31 role.
9. Australia to face Pacific heat on fossil fuels at climate talks. News report on Bowen's defence, the Fiji Times advertisement and Amnesty's call for action at pre-COP.
10. Australia's 'immoral' coalmine decision akin to drowning its Pacific neighbours, Tuvalu's climate minister declares. Guardian Australia report, republished by the Pacific Islands News Association, on Maina Talia's response after the Falepili Union.
No comments :
Post a Comment