coal and gas projects that critics say undermine its mandate
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Australia is leading formal talks at the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) as President of Negotiations.
Climate advocates say its continued coal and gas approvals undermine that mandate.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen rejects the criticism.[1]
Türkiye hosts COP31 in Antalya. Australia holds a newly created role managing draft texts and guiding decisions.
The Lowy Institute describes the arrangement as a compromise.[7]
In October, Bowen said the co-presidency would work on a cover decision, the overarching text that accompanies agreed outcomes.
He said the presidency wanted to avoid negotiating a lengthy political statement.[8]
Bowen describes his job as steering consensus towards the most ambitious outcome that delegates will accept.
He calls the fossil fuel transition a challenging issue. COP30 in Brazil failed to deliver agreement on it last year.[1]
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor criticised the cost of Australia’s COP31 presence, including a $32,000 coffee cart at the pavilion.
Bowen replied that opposing Australian leadership means opposing Australian influence in the Pacific. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added that cooperation with Pacific nations serves national security.[1]
Bowen rejects any suggestion that coal and gas exports have damaged Australia’s standing in the talks. He says other governments rely on Australian supplies to run their energy systems. He says the argument fails to “survive contact with reality”.[1]
Albanese defends the approach, noting that resource companies pay substantial tax that funds public services. His opening address to the leaders summit omitted any direct reference to fossil fuels. Asked about the omission, he said short speeches leave out many topics.[1]
The Australia Institute found the September 2025 quarter delivered the highest thermal coal export volume on record. It counts 42 proposed coal projects that could extract 335 million tonnes a year. China and India, core buyers, reported lower coal power use in 2025 for the first time in 52 years.[5]
Climate Council’s Nicki Hutley compares new coal and gas approvals to filling a bath with the plug pulled out. Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Adam Bandt says Australia has nowhere to hide. He wants a pledge to stop opening new coal and gas mines.[2]
Albanese pointed to the Pacific Resilience Facility, a Pacific-led fund for resilience projects, as a model for supporting vulnerable nations. He also highlighted rapid rooftop solar and household battery uptake at home. He said Pacific communities plead for assistance.[2]
Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr defends Australia’s involvement, arguing small islands need influential partners to amplify their concerns. He rejects loans as the remedy for damage the islands did little to cause. He compares the situation to a canoe struck by a ship whose owner offers a repair loan.[1]
Two advocacy groups ran a Fiji Times advertisement apologising to Pacific islands for a coal mine expansion. The Australia Institute and the Australian Conservation Foundation placed the advertisement, which called the expansion a betrayal. The federal government was weighing approval of the project at the time.[6]
Amnesty International Australia argues the country cannot credibly claim climate leadership while supporting fossil fuel expansion. The organisation has documented climate harm to human rights in Tuvalu and Kiribati. Its campaign also features First Nations people challenging offshore oil and gas exploration affecting their lands and waters.[9]
Electrification replaces direct fuel burning, such as petrol engines and gas heating, with electric equipment. Türkiye proposed lifting electricity’s share of global energy use from 23 to 35 per cent by 2035. Bowen says the world has no chance of holding 1.5 degrees without this “35 by 35” pledge.[3]
The proposed wording requires no clean or renewable source for the extra electricity. It says pathways and rates will differ according to each country’s starting point. Poorer countries face costly grid upgrades to shift to clean sources.[3]
Analysts estimate a clean-only pathway would trim projected warming of at least 2.6C by 0.3C. Sceptics warn that fossil-based electrification could lock in prolonged fossil fuel use. International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol says the pledge signals to markets that electricity is the future.[3]
Bowen defends the flexibility, saying many countries cannot wait for 100 per cent renewable grids before electrifying. He argues electric vehicles run more efficiently than petrol cars even on fossil-fuelled grids. The oil crisis from war in the Middle East, he adds, strengthened the case.[1]
Brazil and others have pushed a global roadmap for moving away from coal, oil and gas. The COP31 agenda still centres on electrification, adaptation and climate finance. Bowen says delegates have a long way to go.[1]
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told leaders to stop building new coal, gas and oil infrastructure. He urged windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies to fund recovery in vulnerable countries. He warned that the world is moving far too slowly.[2]
More than 500 academics wrote to Albanese days before the summit. They seek a binding phase-out timetable and a ban on new projects, including in the Hunter Valley and Beetaloo. Professor Hughes says no government can credibly claim seriousness while contributing to the cause.[4]
Australia also backs a voluntary pledge to double rooftop solar households, reaching at least 300 million by 2030. Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Palau and Vanuatu have joined. The pledge sets no binding targets and relies on streamlined permits and finance access.[3]
Australia drafts the texts at COP31 while expanding the industries that drive the problem. Bowen defends that position as pragmatic, and Palau’s president backs Australian involvement. Pacific leaders still demand climate finance that avoids new debt for island nations.
Critics see a gap between diplomacy and domestic approvals. The electrification pledge advances progress on energy demand yet sidesteps the harder question of phasing out coal and gas exports.
Accountability now rests with the Albanese Government. A credible timetable to end new fossil fuel approvals would align domestic law with the negotiating mandate. It would also give Pacific partners evidence that Australian commitments extend beyond speeches.
1. Chris Bowen seeks pragmatic consensus heading into final COP31 talks . ABC News reports Bowen defending Australia’s negotiating credibility and describing a pragmatic approach amid pressure over coal and gas exports.
2. Australia faces climate questions at COP31 as PM calls for aid for Pacific . ABC News covers Albanese’s Pacific appeal, Guterres’s warning on new fossil fuel infrastructure and advocates’ criticism of coal and gas expansion.
3. COP31 electric power target sparks row over cutting fossil fuel use . ABC News explains the 35 by 35 electrification pledge, the dispute over clean power and Australia’s rooftop solar initiative.
4. Australia cannot ‘credibly lead’ COP31 without reform . The Canberra Times (AAP) reports an open letter from 503 academics seeking a binding fossil fuel phase-out timetable.
5. Bowen set for COP31 as Australia hits coal export record . The Australia Institute, a think tank, analyses record thermal coal exports and the pipeline of 42 new coal projects.
6. Australia to face heat on fossil fuels at climate talks . AAP reports Pacific criticism of Australian fossil fuel exports and the Fiji Times advertisement calling a coal mine expansion a betrayal.
7. After the compromise: Australia’s COP31 blueprint for the Pacific . The Lowy Institute outlines the President of Negotiations role and its responsibilities for draft texts and decisions.
8. Australia says COP31 co-presidency will work on a cover decision . Climate Home News reports Bowen’s plan for a cover decision instead of a lengthy political statement.
9. Pre-COP31: Australia must end fossil fuel expansion and support environmental defenders to show real climate leadership in the Asia-Pacific . Amnesty International Australia links Australia’s fossil fuel expansion to harm in the Pacific and highlights First Nations defenders.
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