Anthony Albanese joins world leaders to defy Trump on climate change, free trade”

In a 30-page statement, leaders said they recognized the “urgency and seriousness of climate change” and reaffirmed the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping the rise in global average temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“We reiterate our commitment and will intensify our efforts to achieve global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions/carbon neutrality by or around mid-century,” the leaders said.

The statement is likely to intensify internal debate over whether the Coalition has put itself at odds with much of the international community by abandoning its target of reaching net zero by 2050.

Trump called climate change a “hoax” and withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement when he returned to the White House in January.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the 19 countries attending the forum agreed “with great consensus” to ratify “a valuable G20 leaders’ document”.

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White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the declaration was pushed by Ramaphosa “despite consistent and strong objections from the United States” and that the United States would focus on “restoring the legitimacy of the G20” when Miami hosts the event next year.

Ahead of the signing of the declaration, an angry Trump administration official told Reuters: “It is a long-standing G20 tradition to publish only consensus-based outputs, and it is a shame that the South African government is now attempting to depart from this standard practice.”

According to the government, under the agreement reached between Turkey and Australia regarding the next major global climate conference, Turkey will host the event and Bowen will have “exclusive authority in relation to the negotiations”.

“This will give Australia and the Pacific unprecedented influence in global climate negotiations,” a government spokesman said.

The coalition opposed Bowen taking on the role, saying it would distract him from core ministerial duties.

“He wants to be on the international stage, he wants to chatter and negotiate at climate conferences,” opposition finance spokesman James Paterson told Sky News on Sunday.

“He’s not interested in lowering energy prices for Australians.”

Australia also joined more than 80 countries at the COP30 meeting in Belem, Brazil, to sign a separate declaration calling for a roadmap to end the world’s use of fuels such as coal and gas.

Albanese said agreeing to the side text, which is not part of the main COP30 agreement despite opposition from oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, was not incompatible with Australia’s moves to expand its use of natural gas.

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“All the energy experts say the cheapest form of transition is renewable energy, backed by gas, backed by hydro, backed by batteries – that’s the Australian position,” he said.

Greenpeace’s Simon Bradshaw said: “This is Australia’s strongest ever statement on fossil fuels and we intend to hold them to it.

“By signing the Belem Declaration, Australia recognizes that our legally binding international commitment to limit warming to 1.5°C means no new fossil fuels.”

Thomas Woodroofe, a senior international fellow at the Smart Energy Council, agreed that the declaration was “the strongest statement Australia has ever made on phasing out fossil fuels”.

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