Australia to face climate pressure at CHOGM
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong will be pressed by Pacific nations this week about Australia’s fossil fuel exports.
Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong will be urged by Pacific nations to curtail fossil fuel exports at a meeting of Commonwealth leaders in Samoa this week, experts predict, with the focus on climate change action at the forum to be bolstered by the attendence of King Charles III.
It is the first time the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will take on a Pacific Island, prompting the Albanese government to prioritise supporting Samoa in the island nation’s calls for collective action on climate change and through providing resources such as police to help manage the event.
“We welcome Samoa’s leadership to elevate Pacific priorities and voices on the international stage,” Senator Wong told The Australian.
“Australia and Samoa are focused on our collective efforts to address climate change and the sustainable management of our oceans.”
More than 3000 delegates from the 56 Commonwealth countries will attend the event, including the King, who has long supported stronger action on climate change.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said CHOGM 2024 came “at a defining moment in our history, when the effects of climate change are no longer distant threats”.
“I am confident that the decisions our leaders will make together at this CHOGM will have a profound and durable impact on the wellbeing of our people and the planet,” she said in a statement earlier this month.
Wesley Morgan, research associate for UNSW’s climate program, said while Mr Albanese would have “a good story to tell” on Australia’s progress towards net zero, including its renewable energy plan, the Prime Minister would need to “be able to explain to Pacific leaders how Australia plans to transition away from our fossil fuel exports”.
“What we’re going to do about our coal and gas exports will be a dawn in the side for Australia’s relationships with the Pacific,” he said.
Australia’s total resource and energy export earnings reached $466bn in 2022–23, falling to $415bn in 2023–24, with coal and iron ore making up about 30 per cent and 20 per cent of that respectively.
Pacific nations have been ratcheting up pressure on countries like Australia to do more to address climate change, with ministers from six Pacific countries last year calling for a global treaty to phase out coal and gas.
Senator Wong is expected to take part in meetings with other foreign ministers on Thursday, while Mr Albanese is due to meet Pacific leaders on Friday.
Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge said he expected CHOGM would be “uncomfortable for Mr Albanese” in the wake of such pressure, with Labor also facing calls domestically from the Greens and other left-leaning groups ahead of the next election to halt fossil fuel expansion.
“It’s all a bit of a kabuki dance from the Australian government talking up climate action while still being a massive exporter of fossil fuels,” he said.
“I don’t expect any change to the Australian government policy to come out of the CHOGM meeting on climate change.”
In the absence of changes to its policies, University of Melbourne professorial fellow Derek McDougall said climate finance was “an important issue where Australia could help”.
“Climate reparations (have been) raised as an issue,” Professor McDougall, who landed in Samoa earlier this week said.
Professor McDougall said there had been no mention of China at the event, which kicked off on Monday, except for one occasion where a journalist from Tonga called Western powers like Australia “hypocritical” given they were responsible for imperialism in the region whereas China had no such history.
China, as a country that has never been part of the Commonwealth, will not attend the event, with hopes that its absence may provide an opportunity for robust discussion on its influence in regions including the Pacific.
Senator Wong said CHOGM presented “a unique opportunity to talk with a range of countries about our shared interests”.
“For Australia, as a middle power, working with others and building partnerships is central to the Albanese government’s work to make Australia stronger at home and in the world, and to keep Australians safe.”
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