COP26: Nationals in a Glasgow meeting of minds

National Party figures Damian Drum and Larry Anthony have joined with other conservative politicians at COP26 to push a moderate, free-market solution to climate change.

Nationals MP Damian Drum. Picture: AAP

National Party figures Damian Drum and Larry Anthony have joined with other conservative politicians from around the world on the sidelines of COP26 to push a moderate, free-market solution to climate change.

Mr Drum, the Nationals chief whip, said he wanted to challenge “the milk and honey’’ ­conversations about heading to net zero.

“We are locked in and we are committed, but we need to go in with our eyes open,’’ he told The Australian at a gathering of Tories, Republicans and other centre-right MPs in Glasgow.

“If we want to do it tomorrow it’s going to decimate our country so we need a balanced view. We don’t have nuclear to fall back on and we need to make sure that we … (find) a genuine way to go forward that gives the environment what it needs but also doesn’t burn our people.”

Mr Drum said being with conservatives supportive of free-market climate initiatives reminded him “of the Nationals partyroom from two weeks ago” where it was agreed to support the government’s commitment for net zero by 2050.

He described the gathering as one of “conservative-minded people that have a moderate view on this – you believe what scientists are saying and you understand the damage that climate change is going to inflict. Then we have to take action. So we have to do things in a balanced and measured way.”

Fifty-three centre-right parties from around the world, including Australia’s Liberal Party, signed a pledge promising to provide “pragmatic but ambitious solutions” to global warming. The pledge says conservative politicians will do much more to combat the threat of climate change at speed and scale.

“We have a duty to act ­urgently to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, to unlock climate finance for ­developing countries, and to achieve net-zero global emissions by the middle of this ­century.

“We must do this in a way that boosts growth and job ­opportunities in our own communities, and that spreads prosperity and alleviates poverty across the world.”

Earlier, ACT Liberal MP Elizabeth Lee and senator Dean Smith from Western Australia were guests at the Legislators Summit at COP26.

Ms Lee gave a speech stressing how every step made a difference. She said while the ACT had achieved 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2020, the next challenge was deal with gas and ­energy for transport.

“Technology may have answers to decarbonise the economy and in a way not to deny citizens their livelihood or better quality of life, but it does require leadership and political will and this is a responsibility on all of us,” she said.

“We have a duty to leave our planet better and greener for the next generation.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the conservative political gathering: “We conservatives must conserve, we are the last generation that can prevent irreversible damage to our natural world.

“To those who say climate change is purely a left wing issue your obviously very much ­mistaken, this is a global challenge that requires a global ­solution.’’