The international organisation has defended the choice to dam Prime Minister Scott Morrison from speaking at a climate summit this weekend, while also taking a swipe at the quantity of cash being offered to low-lying island nations within the Pacific.
While Morrison told Parliament on Thursday that he wasn’t bothered by the snub, the govt. is privately furious and far of its anger is directed towards British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting the conference in partnership with the UN and France.
Johnson invited Morrison to talk at the December 12 summit several weeks ago but walked aloof from the offer in the week amid a behind-the-scenes diplomatic tussle over whether Australia’s global climate change policies were insufficient to warrant a speaking slot.
Morrison had planned to use his speech to announce that Australia would drop its controversial conceive to use Kyoto carryover credits to realize its 2030 emissions reduction targets. Selwin Hart, the special adviser to UN secretary-general António Guterres on climate action, said Australia had not met the edge needed to talk. “We won’t be commenting on the participation of individual leaders,” he said. “But the three co-hosts – the UN, UK and France – provided all member states with very clear guidance from the outset that speaking slots would head to countries and other actors who show the foremost ambition without delay.”
Hart wouldn’t be drawn on what the UN thought of Morrison’s planned announcement or what the UN wanted to work out from Australia on temperature change.
However he did repeat the UN’s position that countries should join up to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 prior to a serious climate summit in Glasgow next November. Morrison has recently embraced the thought of net zero emissions but has only said it will be achieved within the second-half of the century.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was also excluded from the list of nearly 80 world leaders given permission to handle Saturday’s summit.
China, which is building dozens of latest coal-fired power plants, was given a spot. “Rather than focussing on those countries that aren’t thereon list as of now, we actually should be celebrating those who have decided to come back forward this early – many of them from the developing world who despite the challenges of the pandemic, [are] on the front lines of the climate crisis including many countries within the Pacific – to create bold and impressive commitments around net zero,” Hart said.
“Some have brought these commitments forward and that i think we should always celebrate those leaders who have come to the fore and decided to require this ambitious step before COP26.
“We have an extended thanks to go before Glasgow and that we hope that this coalition around net zero by mid-century will grow.”
Johnson offered Morrison the possibility to talk although France, the UN and other supporting partners like Italy and Chile had a say on who made the ultimate list.
The government is furious that Johnson was unable to ensure the promise. There had already been tensions between the united kingdom and Australia over climate within the weeks since Downing Street publicly claimed Johnson had urged Morrison to require “bold action” during a telephone on October 28. “He has thrown us under the bus,” one government official said on Thursday.
Downing Street didn’t reply to questions on Thursday.
Diplomatic sources not authorised to talk publicly said Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was resolute to not let Australia speak. Morrison plans to stipulate his climate policy to a web meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum on Friday night instead.
He told Parliament on Thursday that Australia’s climate and energy policy would be set in Australia’s national interest, “not to induce a speaking slot at some international summit”. Japan, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru and Cambodia are the sole countries within the Asia-Pacific region given a speaking slot.Hart said the UN wanted to work out more commitments on climate financing and gave the impression to take a swipe at Australia for not doing more to assist its Pacific neighbours.
“Ten years ago developed countries promised to mobilise $US100 billion each year in new climate finance to support mitigation and adaptation within the developing world,” he said.
“That goal has not yet been met and so its absolutely crucial that as we head towards Glasgow there’s renewed commitment around climate finance mobilisation for the developing world moreover as support for those countries -including many within the Pacific that are already coping with climate disruption and who face and unsure future as a results of the climate crisis.” Morrison last year pledged to redirect over half a billion dollars in aid towards renewable energy projects and disaster relief throughout the Pacific.