‘Now is the hour’: Labor urged to speed up fossil fuel phase-out to justify Cop30 pledge | Australian politics

The Albanese government is being urged to explain how it will drive a fossil fuel phase-out, after it joined dozens of countries at a UN climate summit to back a declaration that the world should quickly wean off coal, gas and oil.

Australia signed up to the declaration on a just transition away from fossil fuels at a side event at the Cop30 conference in the Brazilian city of Belem, which finished on Saturday night local time, more than 24 hours after the scheduled close.

Led by Colombia, the “Belem declaration” committed countries to work together towards a “just, orderly and equitable” transition away from fossil fuels consistent with limiting average global heating to 1.5C since preindustrial times. It was greeted with rapturous applause.

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Climate activists said the declaration was the strongest statement on reducing fossil fuel use ever backed by an Australian government. With a temperature increase of at least 1.5C all-but guaranteed, scientists say preventing going rapidly past it would require deep, rapid cuts in fossil fuel use.

The declaration backed by Australia explicitly acknowledged that the carbon dioxide emissions from continuing fossil fuel production, licensing, and subsidies were “incompatible” with the 1.5C goal and recognised the need to “phase-out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies as soon as possible”.

The strength of the government’s commitment was immediately questioned after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the country planned to continue to develop new fossil fuel projects, including the Narrabri gas field in New South Wales.

Responding to questions from journalists at a G20 meeting in South Africa, Albanese did not answer directly when asked if the country would “taper down” fossil fuel production, and rejected a suggestion the declaration was at odds with a government gas strategy to open new fields to meet demand “to 2050 and beyond”.

Referencing a transition under way in Australia’s power grids, Albanese said renewables – solar and wind – were the cheapest form of new energy and needed gas, batteries and hydro power as backup. But he did not mention the country’s role as one of the world’s biggest Australia’s fossil fuel exporters.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific chief executive, David Ritter, said Cop30 had failed to bring about meaningful global agreement on fossil fuels and deforestation, but the Belem declaration meant a “critical mass of nations” had acknowledged that limiting heating to 1.5C meant “no new fossil fuels”.

He said with the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, being appointed to a leadership role as “president of negotiations” at next year’s Cop31 climate summit in Turkey – under a compromise deal after Australia’s bid to co-host the event with the Pacific failed – the Albanese government must “match its words with actions”.

“Now is the hour. Australia must now commit to a clear plan and a timeline for the phase-out of fossil fuels, including exports – no more free passes or subsidies for the coal, oil and gas corporations driving climate damage,” Ritter said.

Cop30 managed an incremental and fragile agreement after open conflict broke out between more than 80 countries that wanted more ambitious action and a group of oil-producing nations including Saudi Arabia and Russia that wanted no acknowledgment of the need to stop using fossil fuels.

It meant the transition away from fossil fuels – which had previously been backed at the Cop28 conference in Dubai – being referenced as a voluntary, rather than a binding, commitment.

But the push to phase out fossil fuels is expected to grow alongside the talks. Colombia and the Netherlands will co-host the first international conference on a just transition away from fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, in April.

Observers called on Bowen to attend that conference, given Australia’s support for the declaration and his leadership role in the global negotiations, which officially began at the end of Cop30.

In a deal finalised on Friday, Turkey was named Cop31 president, with primary responsibility for the event, and Bowen – as Australia’s representative – is to be vice-president and president of negotiations. The agreement said this would give him “exclusive authority in relation to the negotiations”, but if Turkey and Australia differed they would consult “until the difference is resolved to mutual satisfaction”.

The chief executive and senior scientist with research organisation Climate Analytics, Bill Hare, said it was significant that Australia had signed up to the Belem declaration, but it must be followed by action. The organisation’s research has found global heating was likely to consistently reach 1.5C by the early 2030s, and a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels was essential to limit the extent and time that average temperatures spent above it.

“I would urge the Australian government to back up its words with clear action towards phasing out fossil fuels, starting with actually stopping new fossil fuel developments and legislating assessment of climate impacts during environmental assessments,” he said.

Climate Action Network Australia said despite the lack of a formal Cop30 outcome on fossil fuels, “huge momentum” had built for the development of a global roadmap to phase them out.

Its chief executive, Denise Cauchi, said the Australia government had been “missing in action” from much of the substantial negotiations on this as Bowen and officials had been thrashing out the hosting arrangements for Cop31. She said it had “deeply frustrated” campaigners.

But she said Australia could prove it was serious about playing a leadership role by leading wealthy fossil fuel producers to phase out coal, oil and gas first.