Yahoo Movies Angus Taylor to promote fossil fuel at Glasgow Cop26 climate summit
Angus Taylor has declared he will promote Australia as a good place to invest in fossil fuel projects in a provocative statement announcing he will attend the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.
The emissions reduction minister confirmed on Thursday he would attend the first week of the crucial summit and tell the world Australia was a “safe and reliable destination to invest in gas, hydrogen and new energy technologies”.
It followed his announcement that the Morrison government had rejected a call to join the US and European countries in a global pledge to cut emissions of methane – a potent greenhouse gas released during gas and coal extraction and by livestock – by 30% before 2030
Gas is often described as having about half the emissions of coal when burned, though studies have found its impact on global heating is greater once methane leakage is counted.
Taylor’s plan to promote fossil fuel at a major climate change summit is in line with the long-term emissions reduction strategy the government released on Tuesday.
Related: Former finance minister who helped sink carbon price now urging Australia to adopt one
The report showed the government would largely rely on technology development – some of it spurred by its technology investment roadmap, some of it unspecified – to meet the goal, aided by offsets that would allow fossil fuels to continue to operate. It indicated deep cuts in emissions would not happen until after 2030, and described liquified natural gas (LNG) as a “clean” fuel.
The plan has been criticised for including no new policies and no detailed explanation of how the new national target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 would be reached. The government says modelling has been undertaken and will be released in “a few weeks”.
The net zero goal was set after the Nationals narrowly backed a deal with the Liberals last Sunday. Morrison and the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, clashed over the details of the deal on Thursday, with the Nationals leader claiming the minor Coalition partner had ensured livestock methane emissions would be excluded. Morrison, who has refused to make public the terms of the agreement, said there was no carve out for agriculture.
In a statement issued before he left the country to join Morrison in Glasgow and at the G20 in Rome, Taylor said Cop26 was “an opportunity for all countries to come together to confront the challenge of reducing emissions while continuing to grow economies and create jobs”.
“The most important legacy this summit could have is a genuine, global commitment to a step up in collaboration on the technology solutions needed to achieve net zero,” he said.
His stance is at odds with the British hosts of the climate summit, who have pushed for countries to commit to much deeper cuts in emissions by 2030 in line with advice from climate scientists.
While the US, UK and European Union have set targets to cut emissions by at least 50% below their national peak this decade, a UN report this week found the world was falling short and would face disastrous temperature rises of at least 2.7C if more countries failed to strengthen their reduction pledges. China, the biggest emitting country, has committed to net zero emissions by 2060 but has not increased its 2030 goal.
The Morrison government has resisted international and local political, business and community calls to increase Australia’s 2030 emissions target above the goal set by then prime minister Tony Abbott six years ago – a 26-28% cut compared with 2005 levels. Official projections released this week suggested current policies would lead to a cut in national emissions of at least 30%, but Morrison ruled out increasing the formal 2030 pledge due to opposition from Nationals MPs.
The government has also rejected calls from the British and the UN to sign up to an agreement that wealthy nations should phase out coal by 2030 and developing countries by 2040.
Climate Analytics chief executive, Bill Hare, an adviser to developing countries at climate talks, said Australia was not playing its part on any of the key issues being considered in Glasgow, including emissions commitments for 2030, climate finance for developing countries, a mechanism to address loss and damage and establishing global carbon market rules with environmental integrity.
Hare said the Morrison government continued to support fossil fuels while falsely claiming to have mapped a path to net zero emissions. “If you can find anything positive I’d love to hear it,” he said.
Australia’s confirmation it would not increase its 2030 emissions reduction goal received diplomatic pushback and was sharply criticised in international media.
The UN secretary general’s special adviser on climate change, Selwin Hart, condemned Australia’s emphasis on future technology. “Where countries are depending on technologies that have not yet been developed, or indicating they intend to cut in the 2030 and 2040s, quite frankly, that’s reckless and irresponsible,” he said.
Alok Sharma, a British cabinet minister and president of Cop26, and the Fijian president Frank Bainimarama welcomed the 2050 commitment but called for more this decade.
Taylor’s announcement included confirmation that the government would update its formal commitment under the Paris agreement – known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC) – to include a 2050 net zero emissions target.
This is at odds with the role of NDCs as set out in the text of the 2015 Paris agreement, which says they are supposed to be updated in five-year cycles focused on the short-term. The current cycle is focused on 2030.
Countries also agreed in Paris to consider submitting long-term low-emissions strategies, but they were meant to be separate and additional to NDCs.
