Scott Morrison holds the line after climate action summit snub

China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is expected to be given priority over Australia, NZ and Canada to speak at Boris Johnson’s climate action summit.

Scott Morrison in question time on Thursday. Picture: Sean Davey

China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is expected to be given priority over Australia, New Zealand and Canada to speak at Boris Johnson’s climate action summit, as Scott Morrison declared emissions policies would be set in the national interest rather than to get a speaking slot at an international summit.

The Prime Minister, who wants to address the UN event after the government updated its long-term emissions projections showing Australia was on track to hit its 2030 Paris target, has not been granted a speaking slot, with priority handed to countries deemed to have adopted more ambitious climate strategies.

Instead, Mr Morrison will speak at a Pacific Islands Climate Forum on Friday, where he will outline the government’s climate change agenda and the likelihood that Australia will not require its Kyoto carry-over credits to “meet and beat” its Paris commitments.

While Australia has been sidelined by Britain, a Five Eyes ally which is hosting next year’s UN climate summit, China is set to be granted a front-row seat.

A growing list of countries, including China, Britain, New Zealand and the US under incoming president Joe Biden, are adopting net-zero emissions pledges with limited detail of how they would achieve their targets.

China’s emissions now account for 28 per cent of the world’s total and are set to rise over the rest of the decade. Yet Chinese President Xi Jinping in September promised to peak the country’s emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Mr Johnson is co-hosting the “landmark global event” with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on December 12 as the UN warns there are “signs that the world is off-track to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels”.

Mr Morrison on Thursday said the nation’s climate and energy policy would be set “in Australia’s national interests, not to get a speaking spot at some inter­national summit”.

“The only approval I seek for the policies of my government is the Australian people. The only people I answer to in this place are the Australian people, and our government stands to serve the Australian people,” he said.

“Whatever country that may be, that may seek to impose whatever position on this country … Australia’s policy will always remain sovereign within our borders and nowhere else.”

Speaking during question time after independent MP Zali Steggall and Greens leader Adam Bandt seized on the apparent snub, Mr Morrison said what matters is “what you get done and Australia is getting it done on emissions ­reduction”.

“That’s what matters to the Australian people. Not how many speeches you give, not how much ambition you declare. I may have an ambition to play front row forward for the Wallabies but that ambition won’t be realised.

“But what is being realised is Australia is meeting its emissions-reduction targets.”

Mr Morrison said the government was supporting “record investment in renewables”.

“Australia has a plan to put the technology in place to reduce emissions and ensure we achieve the Kyoto, as we already have, and demonstrated that, and, importantly, the Paris commitments.”

Liberal and Nationals MPs have expressed their views on tempering ambitious climate strategies, with a handful agitating to pull out of the Paris deal.

Nationals MPs told The Australian they supported Mr Morrison’s position to not make commitments “on behalf of the Australian people unless I can tell them how we will achieve it and what this will cost”.

Ahead of the PIF climate summit, Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama on Thursday said “when it comes to climate change every nation is in the same canoe”.

“Currently, that collective canoe is taking on water and there are too few of us trying to patch the holes. And I am glad the Australian government has recognised you cannot fix those leaks with Kyoto credits,” Mr Bainimarama told The Australian.

Additional reporting: Ben Packham