G20 leaders urged to hold the line on climate action ahead of Donald Trump presidency

Joe Biden and Keir Starmer will pressure leaders to not join Donald Trump in walking away from climate ambition, with Anthony Albanese to declare Australian clean energy and critical minerals will drive a ‘new generation of prosperity’.

US President Joe Biden at the Amazon Rainforest in Manaus, Brazil. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden and Keir Starmer will ramp-up pressure on G20 leaders to not join Donald Trump in walking away from global climate change ambition, as Anthony ­Albanese faces calls to unveil Labor’s 2035 emissions reduction target ahead of the election.

After the US President made history as the first American leader to visit the Amazon on Monday (AEDT) – in a clear message that Democrats remain committed to their climate change agenda – the Prime Minister will meet the British leader at the summit in Brazil.

In their second bilateral meeting on Tuesday (AEDT), coinciding with the UN COP29 summit in Baku, the pair will discuss the climate and energy partnership they struck at the CHOGM gathering in Samoa last month, which will be signed by their ministers in Azerbaijan this week.

Additional to climate and energy talks, Mr Albanese and Mr Starmer will discuss AUKUS, security and the Indo-Pacific in the wake of Mr Trump’s election win.

Ahead of the COP29 meeting, Mr Starmer last week announced his British Labour government would adopt a new 2035 target to reduce emissions by 81 per cent.

Mr Albanese has been coy about timing for Labor’s 2035 target, originally planned to be announced before the year’s end.

Asked at the weekend about his government’s 2035 target, Mr Albanese said “we’re committing to our 2030 target (43 per cent emissions reduction), it’s legislated … 2030 comes before 2035”.

Speaking on day two of the G20 summit on Wednesday (AEDT), Mr Albanese will join Mr Biden and Mr Starmer in advocating for stronger global efforts to combat climate change.

“This forum can play a decisive role in mobilising global capital to support the goals of the Paris Agreement. And backing in the important work under way right now at COP29,” Mr Albanese will say.

“We can send a clear message to our citizens and our neighbours that the biggest economies in the world remain committed to tackling one of the biggest challenges facing the world.

“In doing so, we can send a strong signal to global markets that clean energy – and the skills, resources and technology essential to delivering it – remains the best possible investment now and into the future.”

With the federal government’s bid to co-host the COP31 summit alongside South Pacific countries in 2026 expected to be successful, Mr Albanese will tell G20 leaders that embracing clean energy is “more than an environmental necessity, it is a transformative economic opportunity”.

“Just as Australian gas, coal and iron ore helped drive the transformation of North Asia, we want to see Australian clean energy and critical minerals underpin a new generation of prosperity,” he will say.

“Helping growing economies realise the benefits of industrialisation while delivering on their commitments to decarbonisation.

“It speaks volumes that at a forum as significant as the G20, in a time of substantial economic uncertainty, so much discussion centres on climate change and clean energy. The biggest economies in the world take climate change seriously.”

With Mr Trump threatening to pull out of the UN Paris Agreement and Green Climate Fund when he returns to the White House in January, Mr Biden used his Amazon trip to announce the US had surpassed its goal of providing $11bn a year in international climate financing.

Mr Biden’s symbolic visit to the Amazonian city of Manaus to meet with Indigenous leaders about deforestation comes as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva seeks G20 support for a Global Climate Finance Target.

Developing countries and ­resource-rich nations, including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and Brazil, have typically joined forces at G20 meetings to water down ambitious climate change resolutions backed by advanced economies.

Mr Biden, whose Inflation Reduction Act was considered a game-changer for green energy investment, said his successor might try but would ultimately fail to reverse “the clean energy revolution in America”.

“The fight against climate change has been a defining cause of my presidency” Mr Biden said.

“My administration first rejoined the Paris Agreement on climate change. We’ve launched (the) 150-nation-strong Global Methane Pledge.

“We’ve delivered record climate financing to developing countries”.