Buckle up as Chris Bowen takes on the top job at COP31

The elevation of Chris Bowen to COP31 president is putting the fox in the henhouse. Having brought the Australian energy industry to its knees with his impossible dreams, with energy prices skyrocketing, he is moving on to his next project on a much bigger canvas. Buckle up for the fallout from the coming field of dream.

Bill Bishop, Palm Beach, NSW

As the latest annual boondoggle, COP30, comes to an end, instead of discussing why the essential trace gas, carbon dioxide, continues to be unjustly demonised, a major item on the agenda is an argument over X and Y chromosomes.

The latest COP30 bulletin, “Gender Action Plan negotiations still haggling over definitions”, is straight from Looney Tunes Land. What that or many other items on the agenda of these annual scientifically illiterate, politically poll-driven parties has to do with climate change is an affirmation that you can fool most of the people most of the time.

Disastrous net-zero policies emanating from COP-convened Paris-ites are blindly followed by partygoers enjoying the good life while they close down the fossil fuel industries that gave us an unprecedented lifestyle.

John McRobert, Indooroopilly, Qld

We have at last someone from the corporate sector standing up for small business owners and the rest of us (“Net-zero medicine ‘may kill patient’: ANZ chief”, 20/11). Last year the corporate sector all supported the Prime Minister and the voice, when it turned out 60 per cent of us voted no.

Alison Copeman, Palm Beach, NSW

South Australians are quite used to criticism from “the wise men from the east”. So the cynical description of delegates arriving at Glenelg “by sea, either by yacht, canoe or swimming for the COP31” will now bring a big disappointment to some with the loss of the conference not to be held in Australia.

Marjorie Brown, Glenunga SA

COP is the world’s biggest climate summit, but it’s also been called the world’s biggest trade fair.

Hosting it in Australia would have showcased South Australia’s clean-energy success, strengthened regional alliances by amplifying the voices of our Pacific neighbours, opened doors to vast diplomatic and investment opportunities, and positioned Australia as a global hub for energy security and economic growth.

What a shame Prime Minister Albanese didn’t bother travelling to Brazil to secure the deal.

Larni Dibben, Glen Iris, Vic

Footage of Java’s Mt Semeru pouring dense clouds of volcanic smoke and ash into the atmosphere to a height of several kilometres is most impressive. Just wondering, though, how many coal-fired power plant hours of operation would equal such an eruption? Are there units of measurement and a conversion formula? It would be useful to know before the bushfire season starts up there.

Terry Birchley, Bundaberg, Qld

Despite acting like a lapdog to Labor and the net-zero lobby, the CSIRO has been “rewarded” by a 300 staff cut. It is time the institution reasserts its independence by telling the taxpayers who fund it that this continent is already net zero. CSIRO research can confirm that photosynthesis sequesters all the carbon dioxide emissions in over a million square kilometres of forests, two million square kilometres of tropical savanna and the sea grasses in two million square kilometres of continental shelf.

Moreover, there is enough atmosphere over the continent and its territorial waters to break down not only our methane and nitrogen dioxide emissions but also Indonesia’s. And while confessing it has been very circumspect in publishing and publicising its result on carbon sequestration, the CSIRO could also tell the public that global emissions exceed 60 billion tons and keep on rising by at least a billion tons each year.

COP is a mendacious farce and Chis Bowen one of its leading clownish actors. Our 440 million tons of emissions are a mere three-quarters of 1 per cent of global emissions and all compensated by the continent’s plant life. If renewables are so cheap, market forces alone should be enough to ensure their growing utilisation.

Let us spend our taxes on real issues like housing, investing in research and development, and growing the economy.

Alessandro Gardini, Glenside, SA