Greens Criticise Labor’s Climate Targets for Being Inconsistent With Paris Agreement

Fortescue Solomon iron ore mine located in the Valley of the Kings in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. David Gray/Reuters

Greens criticised the Australian Labor government for its climate targets, which the group said are inconsistent with the Paris Agreement.

According to Climate Analytics, Australia is the world’s third-largest fossil fuel exporter, next to Russia and the United States, with the country as the second-largest exporter of fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions.

“Emissions are higher under [Prime Minister] Anthony Albanese than Scott Morrison, Labor has approved 28 new coal and gas projects and now they’re backing away from 2035 targets,” said Greens leader Adam Bandt on Nov. 17.

”With Donald Trump now U.S. President and Peter Dutton spruiking nuclear here, Labor must stop lifting emissions and join the UK in pushing for strong action by 2035, otherwise we won’t stop global warming.”

The statement comes following Albanese’s interview with ABC Insider, where he declined to commit to outline his government’s 2035 emissions target ahead of the election and said it would be unveiled “sometime next year.”

Australia At Risk of Halving Iron Ore Export Revenues

It comes after Climate Energy Finance (CEF) said on Nov. 15 that Australia is at risk of halving its $138 billion iron ore export revenues if it fails to pivot towards green iron as Northeast Asia continues its ambitious clean energy transition, Europe’s carbon border adjustment mechanism starts, and the global iron ore supply chain restructuring accelerates.

“We need government financial support for the first-of-a-kind deployments of green iron at commercial scale here, to develop the ‘learning by doing’ and supply chain capacities needed, even as we work with our key Asian trade partners to build momentum towards an explicit price on carbon emissions in regional trade to drive private investment in steel supply chain decarbonisation,” said Tim Buckley, CEF director and report co-author.

“This is key to limiting the use of government subsidies, and to creating the market signal for the accelerated investment in green iron needed to help our key trade partners decarbonise their economies at the speed and scale the climate science dictates.”

The CEF recommended establishing a National Green Iron and Steel Strategy in partnership with the state governments.

Moreover, it recommended jointly building a Trilateral Clean Commodity Trading Company with South Korea, and Japan and an Australasian Green Iron Corporation Joint Venture with other key regions like China.

The think tank also suggested introducing production tax incentives for green metal refining.

“As we showcase through the report, other jurisdictions are rapidly emerging to become global hubs for lower-emission iron and steel production. Australia’s advantage, producing low-cost, high-margin, mid-grade unprocessed iron ore, is under threat,” said Matt Pollard, CEF net zero transformation analyst and lead author.

“This demands that we act now to establish capabilities in production of green iron, value-adding our iron ore onshore pre-export using our firmed renewables.”

Appropriate Policies Required to Accelerate Coal Phase Out

Similarly, the Coal Transformation Commission (CTC) called for national governments to come up with appropriate policies and commitments to accelerate the coal-to-clean transitions.

The commission also remarked on the need for sustained collaboration between governments to rapidly increase a pipeline of projects focusing on early retirement of coal power plants and repurposing them for flexibility.

“CTC’s report rightly identifies that getting private finance flowing into their early retirement will require ambitious government policy, more catalytic public capital and definitions of transition finance that include coal retirement,” said Mark Carney, U.N. Special Envoy on climate action and finance and GFANZ co-chair.

“High integrity carbon markets will be essential to mobilise the investment required. There is no time to waste, the CTC’s recommendations should be implemented as quickly as possible to keep the goals of the Paris Agreement alive.”

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that governments must ensure the transition is fair to all stakeholders, including coal mine workers.

“Today, less than 15 percent of coal workers are covered by just transition policies,” said Laura Cozzi, IEA director of sustainability, technology, and outlooks.

“International collaboration, public financial support, and people-centred approaches will be essential to ensure the transition away from coal is fair and just.”