The Australian Federal Government is increasingly confident its bid to host the world’s most important climate change negotiations in 2026 will be successful.
Labor announced before the last election it wanted to join with Pacific nations to hold a United Nations Conference of the Parties – or COP – meeting.
It’s one of the globe’s most significant meetings, and the Climate Change Minister, Chris Bowen, says Australia is ready to play host.
“It’s a great opportunity for Australia. We’ve changed our climate policy so much that we are now a serious and credible candidate to host a COP,” said Bowen.
Australia wants to take the 2026 COP Presidency in partnership with Pacific nations, some of the world’s most powerful climate advocates.
Pacific countries have long made it clear they want much more climate ambition from Australia, but George Carter from the Australian National University (ANU) says they’re still enthused by the plan.
“This is an opportunity where many Pacific leaders in countries are very excited about. The ability to amplify much of the messages, but also the mechanisms that the Pacific have been constantly working on” said Carter.
Still negotiations over COP can be opaque, and it’s not yet in the bag. Turkiye is also bidding for the 2026 Presidency.
Several countries have already backed Australia, and some officials in Canberra are brimming with confidence that Turkiye will pull out.
If Australia does win, the focus will turn quickly to what COP 31 can achieve.
The Pacific wants major emitters to ramp up their climate ambition, while pressing all developed countries to plough much more money into underfunded facilities, which will help developing countries deal with the devastating impacts of climate change.
Dr Melanie Pill from the Lowy Institute said Australia will also need to grapple with the thorny question of its own massive fossil fuel exports.
“That Australia could advocate for a very, very strong mitigation target, maybe even a phase out of fossil fuels, which is really the only thing that helps the Pacific in the future to protect them from more climate induced disasters” she said.
Luke Brown from Monash University’s Climate Work Centre said it will also be critical for Australia to do more to help the rapidly industrialising countries of South East Asia to decarbonise.
“And helping the countries of South East Asia to build that bureaucratic strength, but also sharing technical expertise, sharing lessons around the decommissioning of power stations will be a really key opportunity coming out of COP 31” he said.
He said if Australia is serious about COP, it could have a huge impact.
“I think for Australia, a COP in our region is really a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to signal higher ambition here at home,” he said.
But that will depend on political will, both at home and abroad.
