SYDNEY (Reuters) -The United Nations climate chief has called on Australia to set an ambitious 2035 emissions target and accelerate its clean energy transition, warning a failure to act risks eroding living standards and regional stability.
Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said Australia should “go for what’s smart by going big”.
“Don’t settle for what’s easy. Bog standard is beneath you,” he said at a Smart Energy Council event in Sydney.
Australia faces scrutiny for backing new fossil fuel projects while seeking to co-host the UN COP31 climate summit with the Pacific next year.
The centre-left Labor government, which took power in 2022 with a mandate to reduce carbon emissions, cleared the country’s largest gas plant to run until 2070 in May – a decision that critics said called into question Australia’s commitment to tackling climate change.
Australia is also among the highest polluting countries per capita due to its coal power generation.
Consultancy Wood Mackenzie has projected Australia is set to fall far short of its target of 82% renewable generation by 2030 due to state-level rollbacks, grid connection delays and inadequate investment.
Stiell said the country’s 2035 emissions reduction target, due in September, would be a “defining moment” that could send a message that “this country is open for clean investment, trade, and long-term partnerships”.
Australia also had the opportunity to become a global leader in renewables and that “doubling down on clean energy is an economic no-brainer”, he said.
He warned that a lack of action would erode living standards and destabilise Australia’s neighbours in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, which were more susceptible to rising sea levels and extreme weather.
“This is the moment: to get behind a climate plan that doesn’t just write that vision into policy – but delivers in spades for your people,” Stiell said.
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates)
