Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen declared the landmark Paris Agreement, which saved the world from “the brink of catastrophic 4°C warming”, was “working”, but countries are still looking ahead to 2035. and the need to set the most ambitious emissions targets possible. Limit worsening global warming.
Delivering Australia's National Statement on the floor of the Cop29 Summit in Azerbaijan, he pledged AU$50 million ($3,250) to the Global Loss and Damage Fund to help the world's most vulnerable people repair the damage caused by climate change. He also pledged to donate $1,000,000. The funding was welcomed by climate change activists, who said it was “the right thing to do”.
Comments on emissions reduction targets will raise expectations that the Albanon government will significantly step up its efforts when new emissions targets are set next year.
Initial recommendations from Australia's climate change authority earlier this year suggested the country could achieve cuts of up to 75% below 2005 levels by 2035. The agency's final recommendations and the government's target announcement have been postponed, likely until 2019. Federal elections scheduled for May.
The UK last week announced a target of cutting emissions by 81% on 1990 levels by 2035, which was widely praised, but campaigners said it needed to be backed up by a detailed plan.
Mr Bowen told Cop29 that a global inventory of climate change developments at Cop28 in Dubai last year showed that temperatures had gone from the brink of catastrophic 4C before the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 to what is expected thereafter. He said the 4°C temperature showed that “we have come a long way”. 2C and 3C in their current orbits.
Scientists say this level of temperature rise above pre-industrial levels will still cause catastrophic heat waves and extreme weather events, destroying lives, livelihoods and nature. Mr Bowen said the inventory showed that “we have come so far, but we are not far enough”, adding that climate change “is not being negotiable and is being seen as an existential and security threat. He appealed to the world to listen to the opinions of Pacific island countries.
“This is the message the world needs to hear, this is the reality the world needs to see,” he said. “That is why we are bidding to work with Pacific Family to co-host Cop31.”
New climate action, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), due next year, will accelerate global climate action and meet the goal of limiting heating to 1.5 degrees, Mr Bowen said. “We all must step up our efforts and realize our highest possible ambitions.”
The 1.5°C target enshrined in the text of the Paris Agreement has been dismissed by some climate scientists as unachievable, as temperatures are rapidly approaching that level and further warming is locked into the climate system. are. But climate change negotiators and advocates maintain support for the proposal, in part because they stress the need to make deep cuts as quickly as possible.
Mr Bowen said Australia was “accelerating transformation” to become an integral part of the world's net zero economy and help other countries decarbonise.
He said Australia believed “climate action makes economic sense at every level, from households to the national economy”, adding that the government's commitments include A$20 billion in support for clean energy investment. He highlighted future Made in Australia policies.
Australia faces fresh criticism at Cop29 over the government's insistence it wants to become a “renewable energy superpower” while continuing to support coal and gas development and expansion. are. Mr Bowen said Future Made in Australia's aim was “not only to decarbonize and grow our economy, but also to support the decarbonization and economic development of our friends and neighbors”. “We know we have to keep moving forward or the world will pass us,” he said.
On the Loss and Damage Fund, Mr Bowen said Australia's A$50 million made it the sixth largest contributor to the Loss and Damage Fund, which was established after last year's agreement. He said this built on the A$100 million donation to the Pacific Resilience Facility, which supports small, locally-led projects across the region.
Advocacy groups welcomed the pledge. Shiva Goonden of Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: Civil society in Australia and the Pacific has been pushing for this for some time, and we are encouraged that the Australian Government has truly listened and responded to the needs of the Pacific. ”
Climate Action Network Australia's Erin Ryan said the funding was the “right thing to do”, adding: “It will benefit children whose schools were destroyed in the cyclone and who have been without an education for years, as well as those recovering from lost incomes. “It's going to make a huge difference to one family.” Their crops died due to drought. ”
Oxfam Australia's Julie-Ann Richards said the fund was critical for least developed countries and Pacific countries. But she and other advocacy groups are calling on Australia to build on its loss and damage fund by ensuring it is included in comprehensive climate finance targets for developing countries, a key focus of negotiations at Cop29. He called for ensuring future prospects. Otherwise, she said, they risk being ignored in future commitments and become “empty vessels.”
Mr Bowen will co-chair negotiations on how to set new climate finance targets. Those talks are moving slowly, with economists divided over how to structure the fund, which should be worth at least $1 trillion a year starting in 2030.
Mr Bowen acknowledged that Australia would commit the previously announced A$3 billion (US$1.95) between 2020 and 2025 to help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to the climate crisis. Ta. Supporters argue this is significantly less than Australia's fair share of support for the poor and vulnerable. Last week's Climate Action Tracker said it was “critically insufficient”.
