How Scott Morrison Embarrassed Australia At The Leaders Summit for Climate
Compared to the rest of the world, Australia is doing nothing to combat climate change.
On 22 April 2021, Scott Morrison participated in the opening session of the Leaders Summit for Climate, a two-day virtual event hosted by US President Joe Biden.
After years of being idle under the Trump Administration, the virtual summit was America’s announcement to the world that they were back in action. After all, action on climate change is high on the agenda for Biden’s Administration.
During his summit opening address, President Biden said, “the science is undeniable…the United States isn’t waiting. We are resolving to take action.”
As for the 40 other participating nations, the summit was an opportunity to show the world that they too are doing their part in the fight against climate change.
With the 26th UN Climate Change Conference coming up this November in Glasgow, many saw this virtual summit as the Biden Administration’s way of pressuring other nations to be more ambitious with their emission reduction targets. Just before the summit commenced, the US unveiled an ambitious goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% based on 2005 levels by 2030.
However, despite the country recently experiencing several devastating natural disasters, the Australian Federal Government did not seem to be interested in joining this particular party.
Ambitions On Net Zero Emissions
After President Biden’s opening speech, the summit got off to a pretty positive start. Japan committed to cut their emissions by 46% compared to 2013 levels by 2030. Canada announced it will aim to reduce emissions from 40-45% compared to 2005 levels by 2030. And the UK announced their recently legislated, and hugely ambitious, goal to reduce emissions by 78% based on 1990 levels by 2035.
Although they did not offer a new emissions target, China reaffirmed plans to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2060. And for the first time, President Xi Jinping said the country will start phasing out coal between 2026-2030.
As you can see, all of the above countries have set a deadline for reaching net zero emissions. Not Australia though.
When it came for his time to speak, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “for Australia, it is not a question of ‘if’ or even ‘by when’ for net zero, but importantly ‘how.’”
So, we still don’t have a timeline in which to hold ourselves accountable.
We did however, boast about exceeding our 2020 Kyoto commitments, which required us to reduce emissions by a measly 0.5% based on 1990 levels. It’s worth pointing out that Australia’s deal under the Kyoto Protocol has always been controversial.
Clean energy
During her speech at the summit, Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted Germany’s plan to phase out coal by 2038. Currently, only 23.8% of Germany’s energy is produced by coal. Over 44% of their electricity comes from renewable sources.
In comparison, both the US and Australia rely mostly on fossil fuels to create electricity.
In 2020, America sourced 20% of its electricity from renewables and 60% from fossil fuels. However, this may soon change if President Biden is successful in his proposal to remove subsidies for fossil fuel companies to provide incentives for more renewables.
In 2020, Australia sourced over 72% of our electricity from fossil fuels and 27% from renewables. Yet, the federal government has not committed to a plan for phasing out fossil fuels. But we do have “clean hydrogen”.
Halfway through his speech, Morrison announced that Australia was investing $20 billion into “clean hydrogen”, “green steel” and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
“Mr President, in the United States you have the Silicon Valley. Here in Australia we are creating our own ‘Hydrogen Valleys’” he said.
But here’s the catch, making hydrogen fuel requires a great deal of energy. This energy can be provided by fossil fuels or renewables.
Green hydrogen is made using renewable energy. While blue hydrogen is made using any type of fossil fuel paired with a CCS system. The Morrison government hasn’t made it explicit whether they’re investing money into blue or green hydrogen. They’ve just said “clean hydrogen”.
According to the Climate Council, “clean hydrogen is nothing more than an attempt to rebrand fossil fuelled hydrogen in a way that makes it sound appealing.”
As for carbon capture and storage, Australia’s largest CCS system is attached to Chevron’s Gorgon gas facility. And it has been riddled with problems from the beginning.
In a press release from 21 April 2021, Clean Energy Council Chief Executive, Kane Thornton said “Australian taxpayers have very little to show for over $1 billion spent so far in support of CCS.”
And in a frank and detailed essay, climate experts recently expressed their concern over government and industry relying on CCS technology to save us from climate change.
Electric vehicles
On Day 2 of the virtual summit, Norway highlighted the fact that electric vehicles made up over 50% of all new cars sold in the country during 2020. The achievement is a world first.
Alongside their highly ambitious 2030 emissions target, the US has recently proposed to invest $174 billion into supporting electric vehicles, including consumer rebates.
While electric vehicles have their pros and cons, they definitely have an important role to play in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. And once again, Australia is lagging behind.
The Federal Government currently has no intention of making it easier for everyday consumers to purchase electric vehicles. In fact, Scott Morrison actively campaigned against electric vehicles in the 2019 elections.
Now I’m not pointing any fingers but a recent ABC article suggested that car manufacturers are starting to use Australia as a “dumping ground” for their outdated petrol cars. I wonder why?
Norway is crushing us at EVs. That’s crazy. We have to do better. Are you in? #EVerybodyIn #NoWayNorway pic.twitter.com/QH8kXRd4rp
— General Motors (@GM) February 3, 2021
The Federal Government needs to wake up
At the end of the day, solving climate change is a ginormous task. As outlined during the Leaders Summit for Climate, it will require massive cooperation on all levels. No one country or industry can fix it.
But as the head of the Australian Country Context team at ClimateWorks Australia, Anna Malos said in a statement to Junkee:
“Australia is very vulnerable to climate change because our weather is already inclined to extremes — so how fast the climate changes really matters. The horrific bushfires and damage to the Great Barrier Reef are all signs of our vulnerability. Australia has a vested interest in having the world move as quickly as possible, and every reason to reduce emissions as fast as possible.”
Zaya Altangerel is a freelance journalist who writes about science, social issues, and pop culture. She occasionally expresses some hot takes on Twitter @ZayawithaY.