Australia's Nationals Didn't Sign Final COP Draft, Deputy PM Notes In Sneering Visit To Coal Town
The Nationals did not sign the final communiqué of the Glasgow climate summit that commits to doing more to cut medium-term emissions, deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has said, adding Australia is “happy with our targets”.
Joyce, who was campaigning in the NSW coal town of Singleton on Monday, said the government had already determined its 2030 emission reduction target, and the Nationals had not agreed to the Cop26 pact signed by the Australian government on Sunday. “The Nationals did not sign it. I did not sign it,” Joyce told the ABC. “I am an executive member of this government. We are happy with our targets, with the negotiations the Nationals had with the Liberals (and) we said that we wouldn’t be changing our 2030 targets.”
Joyce also targeted the president of Cop26, Alok Sharma, saying he was “cynical” about the suggestion he was emotional about the outcome of the summit. “Give me a break. These people are not worried about the environment, they just want to end up on television,” Joyce said. “He [Sharma] was with his gavel and ‘oh, I’m almost crying, I can’t do this’. He wants to shut down our coal industry but he never talked about shutting down the oil fields in the North Sea.”
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The Glasgow pact also included a resolution to “phase down” coal and accelerate efforts away from “unabated” coal power, but this clause was watered down after a push by the Indian delegation objected to the term “phase out”. Sharma said the resolution indicated a clear shift “away from fossil fuels”, while Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan said the result was “a big green light for us to build more coal mines.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/15/scott-morrison-rules-out-more-ambitious-2030-emissions-target-despite-cop26-pact