Australia’s bid to host next year’s United Nations climate change summit in Adelaide could cost $2 billion (US$1.30 billion), according to new estimates.
While a Pacific leaders’ meeting could help keep the cost down and has the support of Chris Bowen’s Climate Change Department, one source said the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet was opposed on the grounds the government would lose any political dividend of hosting world leaders.
The same source also flagged the expectation that Australia, as host country, might need to announce significant climate change measures to coincide with the event, potentially adding hundreds of millions to the total bill.
Last week The Australian Financial Review reported the cost of the two-week summit – which the government is trying to limit to 30,000 delegates – would be in excess of $1 billion (US$653 million).
On Friday, Bowen defended the bid, telling Guardian Australia the economic and geopolitical benefits would justify the cost to taxpayers.
With the Coalition opposed to spending so much money on the event, Bowen argued that Labor, when in opposition, had supported the Howard government hosting APEC in Sydney in 2007, and the Abbott government hosting the G20 in Brisbane in 2014.
“The G20 and APEC … were hosted by previous Liberal governments with the full support of the Labor opposition of the day,” Bowen said.
“They do cost some money, but there is also an immediate economic benefit for the country, obviously, of all the people coming in.
“There’s also a long-term geostrategic benefit for our region.
“The payoff for our country is the world’s largest trade fair. If we are serious about renewable energy and our role in the energy system, a good, sensible, middle-of-the-road economically literate government – which clearly the Liberal Party would not be – would welcome the chance to host a COP.”
On Monday, as the Liberal Party and the Nationals continued to squabble over the details of the Coalition’s watered-down climate policy, especially over whether it would retain the term “net zero”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was none the wiser as to whether Australia would host COP31.
Australia has been in a stand-off with Turkey for months, and unless either side yields by the end of the current COP30 summit in Brazil, the event will default to the German city of Bonn.
Australia and Turkey belong to a group of 28 nations whose turn it is to host COP, but the decision among those nations has to be unanimous. Despite Australia having overwhelming support among the group, Turkey will not yield.
Albanese said he was not concerned Australia would lose face in the Pacific if it lost the bid because Pacific nations “are fully aware of what the rules are.
“We continue to put forward our case,” he said.
“I believe that a majority of countries clearly support Australia’s bid, and countries are making their position very clear, including countries in the Pacific and in Western Europe.
“But that’s not the system. If the system were a vote, I would be far more confident about putting forward what the support is.”
As well as concerns in the expenditure review committee of cabinet about the cost of the event, there are varying views within cabinet about the desirability of playing host, given the softening political support globally for climate change iniatives, as the costs of the energy transition bite.
