Glasgow climate summit: Scott Morrison’s net zero solution for world leaders
In his final message to the G20, Scott Morrison warns too much of the world’s response to climate change “is seen through the prism of the developed world.”
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Australia will side with developing countries at the Glasgow climate summit, with Scott Morrison pushing world leaders to accept a process of “transition, not abolition” to net zero.
The Prime Minister will declare “the Australian way” of reducing the cost of low emissions technology is the best option to limit global warming and not “entrench the disadvantage” of nations in the Indo-Pacific, Africa and South America.
In his final message to the G20 in Rome on Sunday, ahead of the Glasgow summit starting on Monday night, Mr Morrison warned: “Too much of our global response to climate change has been seen through the prism of the developed world.”
The summit will be opened by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles, Sir David Attenborough and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who warned there was a risk it “will not deliver”.
“Even if recent pledges were clear and credible - and there are major questions about some of them - we are still careening towards climate catastrophe,” he said.
But Glasgow’s COP26 summit suffered a major blow on Sunday night when an ambitious communique drafted for G20 leaders was substantially watered down.
A planned commitment to reach net zero by 2050 was adjusted to “by or around mid-century”, suggesting China was unwilling to accelerate its decarbonisation, and the leaders failed to agree on an end-date for the domestic use of coal-fired power.
Mr Morrison had pushed back against “mandates and bans” on coal and methane emissions.
“The if, the why and even the when, of taking action on climate change, has been settled,” he said.
“It’s now all about the how. And if it doesn’t work in developing economies, it doesn’t work.”
The Prime Minister, who will deliver Australia’s national statement to COP26 in the early hours of Tuesday, said “taxes and heavy-handed regulation” were not the right solution.
He offered to partner with countries prioritising technological advancements, having struck a deal with Korea on the sidelines of the G20. Another partnership with India is almost finalised.
The Korea partnership, signed in Mr Morrison’s meeting with President Moon Jae-in, will focus on hydrogen, green steel and iron ore, and carbon capture and storage.
The Prime Minister said the deal would position both countries to “play a leadership role in the global response to climate change”.
“Together, we share the ambition of accelerating the development and commercialisation of low and zero emissions technologies, both existing and emerging, to achieve cost parity with high emitting technologies as soon as possible,” he said.
Appearing at the Rome summit, Prince Charles urged world leaders to put aside their differences on tackling climate change.
He said COP26 was “the last-chance saloon” with the “future of humanity and nature herself at stake”.
In the lead-up to Glasgow, Prince Charles coordinated a united front of business chiefs and industry leaders, who he said were “more and more anxious to invest in the projects and new technologies” needed for emission reduction.
But he told the G20 the private sector needed clearer market signals from governments and aligned incentives to put a “proper value on carbon”.
“It is surely time to set aside our differences and grasp this unique opportunity to launch a substantial green recovery,” Prince Charles said.
On the eve of Glasgow, the World Meteorological Organisation revealed the past seven years ranked as the warmest seven-year period on record, with a La Niña pattern this year not cooling temperatures enough to stop 2021 being one of the hottest.
Sea levels rose 4.4mm per year between 2013 and 2021, compared to 2.1mm per year between 1993 and 2002, as heating accelerated the melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas said extreme weather events were the “new norm”, pointing to temperatures of 54.4C in California, rain instead of snow falling for the first time at the Greenland ice sheet peak, and severe flooding in China and Europe.
He said COP26 was “make-or-break” to keep the global temperature rise within 1.5C this century.
Mr Guterres declared: “We must act now - with ambition and solidarity - to safeguard our future and save humanity.”
COP26 president Alok Sharma said the changing climate was “sounding an alarm to the world”.
“We know that this COP, COP26, is our last best hope to keep 1.5C in reach,” he said.
“And I know that we have an unprecedented negotiations agenda ahead of us. But I believe this international system can deliver. It must deliver.”
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