Can Australia Lead Climate Talks While Selling Coal and Gas?

Australia's climate minister, Chris Bowen, is heading to Turkey this week to lead global climate talks called Cop31. Almost 200 countries will send delegates to the city of Antalya to talk about how the world can cut its use of fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil. The big question is whether Australia — one of the world's largest exporters of coal and gas — can be trusted to push for strong climate action while making nearly $100 billion a year from selling those same fuels.

The talks begin on Monday and are expected to last two weeks. They come at a difficult time, with conflicts in the Middle East pushing up oil prices and raising living costs for people around the world. Scientists have already confirmed that global temperatures have risen by at least 1.8 degrees Celsius, which is above the 1.5-degree limit that most countries agreed to aim for in the Paris Agreement.

One of the main goals at Cop31 is a new plan to increase the use of electricity worldwide. Australia and Turkey both support a goal to have 35% of all energy come from electricity by 2035, instead of from burning fossil fuels. That would be a big step toward cleaner energy for homes, businesses, and transportation around the globe.

Australia sells enormous amounts of fossil fuels to other countries. It is the second-largest exporter of coal used in power stations and the top exporter of coal used to make steel. It also exports huge amounts of liquefied natural gas, ranking alongside Qatar as one of the world's biggest suppliers. The Australian government expects to earn about $141 billion from coal, gas, and oil exports this financial year alone.

As the president of the negotiations, Bowen has a very tough job. He must find agreement between wealthy oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia, giant economies like China, and poorer countries that are already suffering badly from climate change. These groups often have very different goals, and getting them all to agree on anything is a major challenge. Bowen says he wants to focus on keeping temperatures as low as possible, helping poorer countries pay for climate solutions, and reaching the new electricity goal.

Some climate experts think Australia should go further and push countries to make detailed plans for phasing out fossil fuels entirely. Australian scientist Bill Hare, who has attended many Cop summits, said this process had been started at earlier talks. He believes Australia should keep it going. 'Australia could pitch this up — to continue this process of developing a fossil fuel roadmap,' Hare said. 'I think [Bowen] needs to be brave at this Cop.'

Brazil released the world's first global fossil fuel roadmap this week, but experts said it lacked clear timelines and targets. Hare called it a 'critical issue' that the talks address the temperature overshoot. He pointed out that fossil fuels make up about 75% of global emissions. Without quickly moving away from them, he said, there is no real way to limit the damage from climate change.

Climate policy is a hot-button issue in Australia at home, too. The main opposition party, the Coalition, has promised to get rid of Australia's goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Another party, One Nation, rejects climate science completely. This makes it hard for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to take strong positions at the talks without facing political attacks when he returns home.

More than 500 Australian scientists and academics wrote to Albanese this week asking him to stop approving new coal and gas projects. They also asked for a legal plan to phase out fossil fuel production that protects workers and communities. Their letter said that Australia 'cannot credibly lead on climate abroad' while expanding coal and gas at home, and called the situation a form of hypocrisy.

Since being elected in 2022, the Albanese government has approved 38 coal, oil, and gas projects. One of those is an extension of a massive gas project in Western Australia called North West Shelf, which is now approved to operate until 2070. Climate activists say approving projects like this while hosting climate talks sends the wrong message to the world. Kathryn McCallum of the Climate Action Network Australia said Australia has the chance to show real climate leadership, but it needs to put the global good ahead of corporate profits.