The Australian PMās non-attendance at Cop30 would āraise questionsā about his seriousness about co-hosting Cop31 in Adelaide
This yearās fortnight-long global climate summit, known asĀ Cop30, officially starts in the Brazilian city of BelĆ©m on 10 November. But international leaders are gathering in advance, starting on Thursday.
Albanese has not attended a UN climate conference since becoming PM and has indicated he does not plan to join more than 50 leaders ā including Britainās Keir Starmer, Franceās Emmanuel Macron, Germanyās Friedrich Merz and Palauās Surangel Whipps Jr ā in being hosted by the Brazilian president, Luiz InĆ”cio Lula de Silva, to focus on theĀ faltering work to deliver on the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.
With the hosting rights for theĀ Cop31 summit unresolved, stuck in a standoff between an Australia-Pacific joint bid and a Turkish pitch to hold the conference in its Mediterranean city of Antalya, observers say there is a strong case for Albanese to meet with other leaders who could influence the decision, which must be made this month in BelĆ©m.
Jennifer Morgan, Germanyās ex-climate envoy who forged a global reputation in leading the 2022 negotiations over the creation of a āloss and damageā fund, said it would send āa very clear signal to the world that Australia is very seriousā if Albanese went to Brazil, and āraise some question marksā with other leaders if he did not. She noted several leaders from the group of countries responsible for deciding who hosts Cop31 ā known as Western Europe and Other States ā had said they would be attending.
āIt is common practice that if a country wishes to host a [climate conference] that its leader attends and continues to make the case. In this case, he would do so with many Pacific leaders who Iām sure are attending,ā Morgan told the Guardian. āIt would certainly strengthen the Australian-Pacific bid for him to attend.ā
Morgan said āif there was ever a moment for a leader to go to a Copā it was now, when some countries appeared to be workingĀ to undermine the multilateral effort on the climate crisis.
āItās 10 years after Paris. Itās a moment for a shoulder-to-shoulder effort,ā she said. āI would think itās also in Australiaās national interests based on what itās put forward on its [2035 climate target] and its goals on renewable energy, and the role that it wishes to play in Asia and globally, to be present at the highest level.ā
