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

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.

Electrification has been a major focus of the climate summit this year. Australia and Turkey have launched a “35-by-35” electrification pledge, calling on other countries to join up. But the pledge does not specify how much of this electricity should be generated from renewable sources.

“Our work shows that almost all electrification is good,” said Bowen. “Obviously, it’s best when coupled with a big expansion of renewable energy […] but when you’re electrifying something, you’re reducing emissions.”

Electric technologies are more efficient than fossil-fuelled equivalents. An electric car converts more of its energy into movement than a petrol car, for example.

“We’re currently [producing] about 23% electricity in the energy mix,” said Bowen. “It’s been growing by 0.3% a year. We have no chance of keeping at 1.5°C if that rate of electrification continues.”

The numbers of fossil fuel lobbyists attending the summit will be public within the next few days. Around 1,600 attended the COP30 climate talks in Brazil last year.

Asked if lobbyists should be banned from COP climate summits, Bowen said he understood concerns about influence but that if the public wanted an open summit, lobbyists could not be barred.

“COP is negotiated by ministers, and ministers only. No one else, I can tell you. When I’m negotiating with other ministers, there’s no lobbyists in the room. Fossil fuels or renewable energy, they’re not allowed in,” he said.

This year, there’s a strong push for action to keep the target of no more than 1.5°C of global warming “within reach”. This means although the world will overshoot 1.5°C sometime in the next three years, emissions cuts and massive carbon removal could – theoretically at least – bring temperatures back down by the end of the century.

Asked if claiming it was possible to bring temperatures down by the end of the century was giving people unrealistic hope, Bowen said there were factual caveats.

“Overshooting 1.5°C does mean that more things need to be on the table,” he said. “I have a pragmatic approach to CCS [carbon capture and storage]. It’s expensive, but you know where it can play a role, fine. But it’s not the answer, and it shouldn’t take the emphasis off direct emissions reduction,” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘Oh, well, we’ll keep warming, and eventually, direct air capture will sort it out’.”

There are currently around 77 facilities operating worldwide which capture and store CO₂ in rocks underground, and in former oil and gasfields. This only accounts for about 0.01% of humanity’s emissions.

Asked if UN summits were too unambitious and slow-moving, Bowen acknowledged the COP process had not averted temperature rise about 1.5°C but had changed the trajectory of global gas emissions.

“The world was on course for more than four degrees of warming when the Paris agreement was struck. Now it’s 2.6°C. [And] 2.6°C isn’t good enough, but it’s a lot better than four,” he said.

“All countries are in this together. No country alone can tackle this. So, international cooperation is not an option. It’s a must-have.”

The US-Iran conflict and searing fuel prices had affirmed the role of renewables for many Australians, he said.

“People have always understood renewable energy can be reliable, but it’s just become a lot starker in the last six months,” Bowen said.

“There’s a polycrisis around the world – multiple crises on multiple fronts. The good news is the answer is often the same: renewable energy is more reliable, [and] it’s great for emissions. It’s the answer for climate and for energy security.”