“The eyes of the world are on us:” Bowen’s COP31 climate vision blurred by home state’s coal addiction

Résumé détaillé

While Australia's climate and energy minister waxes lyrical about the urgent need to cut emissions, his home state is seeking to continue to dig up and export coal, literally unabated.

Chris Bowen, Australia’s climate change and energy minister, was waxing lyrical on the other side of the planet on Monday about the need for action to cut emissions while his own side of politics was busy making sure the Australian state that exports the most thermal coal can continue, literally, unabated.

That’s the awkward but also fundamental dilemma facing Australia – and more than a few other nations attending the fortnight-long global climate conference, COP31, in Antalya, Türkiye.

In short, we pretend we can keep extracting and exporting fossil fuels, without consequence, because the world needs them for “energy security”. We’re addicted to the well-paying jobs, government royalties and corporate profits.

“Climate security”, though, can wait for some future election cycle – even if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reminded us otherwise just before he jetted off to join Bowen.

To return to the contrast, here’s how Bowen, the grandly titled, “President of Negotiations” at the COP confab, discussed what’s at stake in his opening speech.

“The eyes of the world are on us and Türkiye has given us the very best possible platform,” he told the plenary.

“This year, we have witnessed again the devastating consequences of climate change – and welcomed the inspiring solutions and response,” Bowen went on. “The latest science tells us that we will overshoot 1.5 [degrees Celsius]”.

“But we can still return if we work together and act with urgency, solidarity and resolve.”

On this side of the globe, though, in Bowen’s home state, the Minns Labor government in New South Wales was acting with its own sense of urgency and resolve – and seeking parliamentary solidarity – to rush through legislation protecting the expansion plans of a giant coal mine in the Hunter Valley.

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