‘Now is the hour’: Labor urged to speed up fossil fuel phase-out to justify Cop30 pledge | Australian politics

The Albanian government is being asked to explain how it will phase out fossil fuels after joining dozens of countries at a UN climate summit to support a declaration that the world must quickly divest from coal, gas and oil.

Australia signed the declaration on a just transition away from fossil fuels at a side event at the Cop30 conference in Belem, Brazil, which closed on Saturday night local time, 24 hours after the planned closure.

The Colombia-led “Belem declaration” committed countries to work together for a “fair, orderly and equitable” transition away from fossil fuels, consistent with limiting average global warming to 1.5°C since pre-industrial times. It was greeted with enthusiastic applause.

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Climate activists said the declaration was the strongest statement ever backed by an Australian government on reducing fossil fuel use. With a temperature increase of at least 1.5 degrees almost guaranteed, preventing this from being quickly exceeded will require deep and rapid cuts in fossil fuel use, scientists say.

The declaration, supported by Australia, explicitly acknowledged that carbon dioxide emissions from continued fossil fuel production, licensing and subsidies were “incompatible” with the 1.5C target, and acknowledged the need to “phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies as soon as possible”.

The strength of the government’s resolve was immediately questioned after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country planned to continue developing new fossil fuel projects, including the Narrabri gas field in New South Wales.

Answering questions from journalists at the G20 meeting in South Africa, Albanese did not respond directly when asked whether the country would “reduce” fossil fuel production and rejected the suggestion that the declaration contradicted the government’s gas strategy to open new fields to meet demand “by 2050 and beyond”.

Addressing the ongoing transition process in Australia’s electricity grids, Albanese said renewable energy sources (solar and wind) were the cheapest form of new energy, and gas, battery and hydroelectric power were needed as backup. But he did not mention the country’s role as one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters to Australia.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said COP30 had failed to reach a meaningful global agreement on fossil fuels and deforestation, but the Belem declaration meant a “critical mass” of nations agreed that limiting warming to 1.5°C meant “no new fossil fuels”.

With climate change minister Chris Bowen appointed to a leadership role as “chairman of negotiations” at next year’s COP31 climate summit in Türkiye – under a compromise deal reached after Australia’s bid to co-host the event with the Pacific failed – he said the Albanian government must “match its words with actions”.

“The time is now. Australia now needs to commit to a clear plan and timeline for phasing out fossil fuels, including exports; no more free passes or subsidies to climate-damaging coal, oil and gas companies,” Ritter said.

COP30 achieved an increasingly fragile agreement after open conflict broke out between more than 80 countries that wanted more assertive action and a group of oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, that did not want recognition of the need to halt the use of fossil fuels.

This meant the transition away from fossil fuels, previously supported at the COP28 conference in Dubai, was referred to as a voluntary commitment rather than a binding commitment.

However, with the negotiations, the pressure to phase out fossil fuels is expected to increase. Colombia and the Netherlands will co-host First international conference on a just transition away from fossil fuels In April in Santa Marta, Colombia.

Observers have urged Bowen to attend this conference, given Australia’s support for the declaration and its leadership role in global negotiations that officially began at the end of COP30.

According to the agreement concluded on Friday, Türkiye was elected COP31 president, taking primary responsibility for the event, and Australia’s representative, Bowen, will be vice president and chairman of the negotiations. The agreement stated that this would give it “exclusive authority with respect to negotiations”, but if Türkiye and Australia differed, they would consult “until the difference reaches mutual satisfaction”.

Bill Hare, chief executive and senior scientist at research organization Climate Analytics, said it was important for Australia to sign up to the Belem declaration, but it needed to be followed up with action. The organization’s research has found that global warming will reach 1.5°C sustained by the early 2030s, and that rapid phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to limit the time and extent to which average temperatures spend above this.

“I call on the Australian government to back up its promises with clear action to phase out fossil fuels, starting with truly halting new fossil fuel development and legalizing the assessment of climate impacts during environmental assessments,” he said.

Climate Action Australia Network said although there was no official COP30 outcome on fossil fuels, there was “huge momentum” for the development of a global roadmap to phase them out.

The company’s chief executive, Denise Cauchi, said the Australian government had been “missing the action stage” on many of the key negotiations on the issue as Bowen and officials examined arrangements for hosting COP31. He said campaigners were “deeply disappointed”.

But he said Australia could prove it was serious about playing a leadership role by leading wealthy fossil fuel producers to phase out coal, oil and gas first.