Scott Morrison has defended the government’s climate plan taken to the COP26 talks in Glasgow, as criticism mounts over the prominence of a fossil fuel company's branding at Australia’s pavilion at the summit.
The Prime Minister and Energy Minister Angus Taylor have now arrived and left the United Nations' climate change summit, where they spruiked the government’s “technology-led” approach to curbing carbon emissions.
The federal government last week announced , and has pledged to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
But it has been under fire domestically and internationally over its reluctance to set greater targets, and focus on emissions reduction technologies critics say are unproven and will prolong the production of fossil fuels.
Speaking on Wednesday in the United Arab Emirates after leaving COP26, Mr Morrison said Australia’s climate ambitions were “well-received by all of those I spoke with” at the summit.
Mr Morrison also said Australia wasn’t there “to lecture others”.
“We weren’t there to tell others what they should be doing,” he said.
“We were there to focus on what we had to do and how we were going to contribute and work with others.”
Post-COP26, Mr Morrison said, “it's not about the if and when” of addressing the climate crisis, “it's only about the how”.
“We need a mission focus of the world's [research and development] efforts into the technologies that are actually going to make a difference.”
Stall slammed
Meanwhile, the government has come under criticism after a model of a carbon capture project by oil and gas giant Santos was displayed at the front of Australia’s pavilion at the Glasgow summit.
The $220 million project, to be based in Moomba in South Australia, was announced on Tuesday after the government said it could receive carbon credit revenue from taxpayers.
Mr Taylor said the project was the first to be registered under the government's Emissions Reduction Fund and was a major step forward for the technology in Australia.
"This is the first time a national government will award tradable, high-integrity carbon credits to large-scale projects that capture and permanently store carbon underground," he said.
The presence of a fossil fuel giant’s logo next to Australia’s name at an event widely seen as the most important for co-ordinating international efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius wasn’t lost on former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
“Look at the Australian stand – you’ve got a gas company highlighted apparently at the insistence of the Energy Minister, who thinks that our energy policy should be all about burning gas,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Glasgow. “The whole object is to stop burning fossil fuels.”
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who has also travelled to Glasgow, accused the government of “hanging out with fossil fuel executives and hosting PR stunts for the gas industry”.
“The official Australia pavilion here at COP26 has been handed over to gas giant Santos, a symbol the Morrison government is more interested in keeping the fossil fuel companies happy rather than working with other world leaders to increase climate action,” she said in a statement.
Independent MP Zali Steggall said on Twitter the situation was “beyond wrong”.
The Santos model makes up part of “a showcase of emerging technologies and practical action on climate change”, a spokesperson for Mr Taylor told SBS News, which also includes Fortescue Future Industries, of which Mr Turnbull is the chair.
“These companies are supporting Australia’s efforts to reduce global emissions,” the spokesperson said.
