Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has addressed a global climate summit without committing the country to more ambitious emissions targets.
The Prime Minister’s speech also came after Canada increased its commitment to a 40 to 50 per cent cut from 2005 emissions by 2030, Brazil’s pledge of climate neutrality by 2050, and others.
In a short speech, the start of which was impacted by audio issues, Mr Morrison said Australia would “update our long term emissions reduction strategy” later in the year. But he again avoided putting a timeframe on the nation’s “pathway to net-zero” or pledge deeper emissions cuts by 2030.
“Our goal is to get there as soon as we possibly can, through technology that enables and transforms our industries, not taxes that eliminate them, and the jobs and livelihoods they support and create, especially in our regions,” he said, speaking close to midnight AEST.
“For Australia, it is not a question of if, or even by when for net-zero, but importantly how.”
Mr Morrison insisted Australia was on its way to meeting its Paris commitments, plugged the nation’s world-leading rooftop solar uptake, and pushed a technology- and industry-led approach to combating climate change.
He specifically name-checked major mining companies and billionaire Andrew Forrest.
“In Australia, our journey to net-zero is being led by world-class pioneering Australian companies like Fortescue, led by Dr Andrew Forrest, Visy, BHP, Rio Tinto, AGL and so many more of all sizes,” he said.
“It has also been pioneered by agricultural and marine sectors through soil science and sustainable fisheries. “
Mr Morrison spoke of wanting to produce the “cheapest clean hydrogen in the world” for $2/kg before directly addressing Mr Biden to compare Silicon Valley with Australia’s planned “hydrogen valleys”.
The UN Secretary-General had earlier called for a price on carbon, an end to subsidies for fossil fuel, and the phasing out of coal by 2030 in the wealthiest countries and 2040 everywhere else.
Mr Biden said the US couldn’t act alone and called for all countries to act at “a moment of peril but a moment of opportunity.”
“No nation can solve this crisis on our own, as I know you all fully understand,” he said.
“All of us, all of us and particularly those of us who represent the world’s largest economies, we have to step up.”
“At the moment I think our colleagues in Australia recognise there is going to have to be a shift,” the senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, reportedly said during a briefing call.
“It’s insufficient to follow the existing trajectory and hope that they will be on a course to deep decarbonisation and getting to net zero emissions by mid-century.”
“You can always be sure that the commitments Australia makes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are bankable,” he said.
“We have proven performance, transparent emissions accounting and transformative technology targets to unlock pathways to net zero.
“Future generations, my colleagues and excellencies, will thank us not for what we have promised, but what we deliver.
“And on that score, Australia can always be relied upon.”
This content first appear on 9news