‘A clear call for climate action’: Bowen defends Albanese at COP31

Detailed summary

Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen spoke to The Conversation at COP31 in Turkey – as the conference hits the halfway mark.

Australian Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has downplayed widespread criticism of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s failure to mention fossil fuels in his speech at the UN climate summit COP31 in Turkey.

“In Dubai, [the COP28 summit in 2023], the call to transition away from fossil fuels in our energy system was an Australian suggestion,” Bowen told The Conversation in an interview at COP31 in the coastal city of Antalya. “The Prime Minister’s speech was […] a very strong and a very clear call for climate action.”

Bowen has the role of chief negotiator at the climate summit this year, which Australia is co-hosting with Turkey.

In his speech, Albanese did not mention fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, which are the cause of human-induced global heating. Just minutes before he spoke, UN secretary general António Guterres had urged countries to make fossil fuels “go the way of the dinosaurs”. “The dinosaurs did not have a lobby. Fossil fuels do,” he said.

Guterres and leaders from several other countries including Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands are pushing for countries to develop roadmaps to transition their energy systems away from fossil fuels.

Asked if Australia should develop a national transition roadmap, Bowen pointed to Australia’s national net zero plan, which outlines how to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. “They’re called plans, but they could just as easily be called roadmaps. So I would say that we are we are doing that, and we have targets which are, in my view, ambitious and achievable,” he said.

Australia is the world’s second-largest exporter of coal for power stations and the largest exporter of coal for steel making. A fifth of the world’s exported liquid natural gas, or LNG, comes from Australia. Australia is on track to reach its 43% emissions reduction target by 2030. But current policies fall far short of what would be needed for more future goals, such as the 2035 target of a 62%–70% reduction.

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