The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-27)

A10 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27 , 2021

BY MICHAEL E. MILLER

sydney — Australia bowed to
growing domestic and interna-
tional pressure on Tuesday as
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
committed the country to reach-
ing net zero carbon emissions by
2050.
Speaking just days before the
start of the COP26 climate sum-
mit, however, Morrison defied
calls from world leaders and cli-
mate scientists to set a more
ambitious 2030 target.
“Our plan gets the balance
right,” Morrison said, vowing it
would not raise energy bills or
cost jobs. “It is not a revolution
but a careful evolution.”
Australia, one of the world’s
top per capita emitters and fossil
fuel exporters, had faced wide-
spread criticism as one of the few
developed countries not to adopt
the 2050 target ahead of the sum-
mit, which begins Sunday. The
nation is on the front lines of
global warming, with popular
support for swifter action surging

after devastating bush fires early last year. But critics said the announcement still le ft Australia isolated as allies including the United States and Britain have agreed to steeper short-term reductions. “This is just kicking the can down the road, which will put us in a much worse position by 2050,” said Will Steffen, a climate scientist at Australian National University. Morrison said his plan would lead to a 35 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels, building on a 20 percent reduction already achieved and exceeding the 26 to 28 percent vow made as part of the Paris climate agreement six years ago.

But he refused to lock in a more ambitious 2030 target. The Unit- ed States has said it will reduce emissions by 50 to 52 percent by that date, and Britain has vowed to cut emissions 78 percent by 2035. “There will be lots of words in Glasgow, but I will be able to point to the actions of Australia and the achievements of Australia, and I think that’s very important,” Mor- rison said. “The credibility of Aus- tralia’s position is confirmed by our record. We’ve cut [emissions] already by 20 percent and grown our economy by 45 percent. New Zealand, Canada, the United States, other countries, they can’t speak to that.” He alluded to the international pressure on his government over the issue. “Australians will set our own path to net zero by 2050 and we will set it here, by Australians for Australians,” he said. Morrison began softening his messaging on climate change months ago, saying it was his “ambition” to reach net zero by

But Tuesday’s announce-
ment nonetheless comes as a sig-
nificant shift for a politician who
once brought a lump of coal into
Parliament and whose conserva-
tive coalition government was
narrowly reelected two years ago
with a climate policy opposed to
2050 net zero.
The announcement comes af-
ter weeks of wrangling within the
coalition, as moderate members
of Morrison’s Liberal Party fear
losing their seats next year in an
election in which climate change
is likely to be a central issue.
Lawmakers from junior coalition
partner the Nationals, who draw
their support from rural commu-
nities wary of climate regulation,
have demanded concessions.
They got them Tuesday in the
form of about $15 billion in in-
vestments for low-emissions
technologies over the next dec-
ade, money the prime minister
said would go to rural areas.
The election appeared to be on
Morrison’s mind as he used Tues-
day’s news conference to criticize

the opposition Labor Party, which backs the 2050 net zero target but has been coy about 2030. Some Liberal lawmakers, however, said his refusal to set a stronger 2030 target could provide Labor with an opening. “It makes no earthly sense to beat targets and then not take credit for it by updating the target,” said one Liberal lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. “This is all just about a political fix because Scott Morrison couldn’t go to Glasgow not sup- porting net zero by 2050,” Labor leader Anthony Albanese told lo- cal radio on Tuesda y. “He wouldn’t have been allowed in the room.” Steffen, who has called for Aus- tralia to slash emissions by up to 74 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2035, said the announcement was more show than sub- stance. “This government is not at all committed to doing anything

meaningful on climate change,” he said. “They will do anything they can to look like they might be doing something, but the big steps that need to be taken are not being taken.” Hugh Saddler, an independent climate consultant, said Aus- tralia’s achievement of a 20 percent emissions reduction over 2005 levels was largely a result of states taking the lead on turning farmland back into carbon sinks more than a decade ago, aided by a recent dip stemming from coro- navirus lockdowns. With lockdowns ending and further land changes limited, future cuts will be harder to achieve, he said. “We’ve got to do an awful lot more immediately, which makes 2030 incredibly important,” he said, adding that today’s announcement would do little to change the international percep- tion of Australia as a climate laggard. “We’re still back of the pack,” he said. [email protected]

Australia bows to pressure, pledges net zero carbon emissions by 2050

Prime minister defies other nations’ calls for a more ambitious 2030 goal

BY BRADY DENNIS

new york — On a recent after-
noon at the United Nations, as
boats meandered 38 stories below
along the sun-splashed East Riv-
er, the world’s top diplomat was
talking about his three grand-
daug hters. And, in particular,
what they might think of him at
the end of this century.
“I would not like them to come
to say that the planet is hell, and
that I have not done enough to
avoid it,” U.N. Secretary General
António Guterres said in an inter-
view with The Washington Post.
He wants to give them a differ-
ent story to tell:
“That finally, a few decades
ago, there were some generations
that understood that we were
moving in the wrong direction.”
Guterres hopes he is among those
who help persuade the world to
make “peace with nature” in or-
der to create “the best possible
conditions for human beings to
inhabit planet Earth.”
In the lead-up to COP26, a
crucial U.N. climate summit next
month in Glasgow, Scotland, Gu-
terres is working feverishly to
write that happier ending.
With the world on a path that
scientists have said will lead to
catastrophic warming, the 72-
year-old diplomat has assumed
the role of the globe’s exhorter-in-
chief for bolder climate action.
He has chided leaders of rich
nations for not doing more to cut
greenhouse gas emissions and for
not living up to their promises to
help poorer, vulnerable countries
deal with the mounting disasters
of a warming world.
He has served as a megaphone
for scientists, warning in blunt
terms that failure to slow global
warming will lead to more costly
disasters and more human suffer-
ing in the years ahead. He has
amplified the grievances of young
activists, who have marched in
the streets by the millions de-
manding more urgency from
those in power.
He has acted as a cheerleader,
insisting that while the math of
slowing climate change has
grown more daunting, humans
still have the power to shape a
better, more sustainable future —
if only leaders can muster the
necessary political will.
“When you are at the verge of
the abyss, you need to be very
careful about your next step,” he
said, calling the effort to halt
climate change “the most impor-
tant political battle of my life.”
What Guterres has failed to do,
at least yet, is persuade presi-
dents and prime ministers to lock
in the sweeping commitments
necessary to limit global warming
to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahren-
heit) compared with preindustri-
al levels — the most ambitious
goal of the 2015 Paris climate
agreement.
But it’s not for lack of trying.
“On this subject, he has been
continually outspoken and even
at times inspirational,” Stephen C.
Schlesinger, author of “Act of
Creation: The Founding of the
United Nations,” said in an email.
Schlesinger has been critical of
Guterres, saying he has not been
visible enough on the world scene
and not done enough to empha-
size human rights during his ten-
ure, which began in early 2017.
But on climate change, Schlesing-
er said, Guterres has displayed
passion and persistence, even as
he grapples with the main handi-

cap of any U.N. chief: the inability to compel world leaders to act. “At best, Guterres can exert a moral force with the nations of the world,” Schlesinger said. “He has no army, no legislative authority, no taxing authority and no presidential powers.... He has a difficult row to hoe.” It is a limitation Guterres knows all too well. “There are many illusions about what the secretary general

of the United Nations can do,” he told The Post. He said that while the U.N. Secretariat can nudge and nag, while it can spotlight the latest science on climate change and the related devastation the world is already seeing, ultimately only government leaders can bring about change. Nations can influ- ence one another — offering trade deals or financial incentives, im- posing or lifting sanctions. But

the U.N. chief has few tangible bargaining chips. “Unfortunately, in the world, power and leadership are not always aligned,” Guterres said. “Sometimes there is leadership where there is no power, and there is power where there is no leadership. And I think there is a strong risk that that might happen in relation to climate change.” Guterres, of course, has many allies in the push to alter the world’s trajectory, reverse the rise in global greenhouse gas pollu- tion and avoid deepening c limate-fueled calamities in every corner of the Earth. The European Union and Brit- ain, which is hosting this year’s climate talks, have made among the strongest commitments to emissions cuts and have implored other nations to follow suit. “COP26 is not a photo op,” the British president of the summit, Alok Sharma, said in a recent speech. “It must be the forum where we put the world on track to deliver on climate.... Respon- sibility rests with each and every country. And we must all play our part.” President Biden, meanwhile, has tried to reposition the United States as a leader on climate action. His top envoy on the issue, former secretary of state John F. Kerry, has spent the year travers- ing the globe, pressing leaders to embrace bolder plans to transi- tion away from fossil fuels. Small and vulnerable nations bearing the brunt of climate impacts also continue to push major economies to move with more haste. And the United Nations itself has a cadre of officials dedi- cated to implementing the goals

of the Paris agreement, including Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed and Patricia Espi- nosa, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), who since 2016 has worked to persuade nations to live up to their promises. But Guterres has a unique global platform, and even as he grapples with crises ranging from the pandemic to conflicts in Af- ghanistan, Haiti and elsewhere, he has kept a spotlight on the need for climate action. “He hasn’t let the current geo- politics interfere with his global responsibility of putting the world on the right track for the medium and the long term,” said Christiana Figueres, who led the UNFCCC from 2010 through

“He has been very clear and
very brave in his public state-
ments, and very consistent in his
bilateral meetings with other
leaders.”
In speeches and news confer-
ences, he speaks about the prob-
lem with a directness rare among
world leaders. He displays a sober
grasp of the science, coupled with
a street preacher’s fervor as he
pleads with national leaders to do
more — and do more quickly.
“[We are] racing toward the
threshold of catastrophe,” he told
dozens of national leaders at a
White House climate summit in
April, noting that the past decade
was the hottest on record, that
extreme weather events were
growing more intense and that
greenhouse gas concentrations in
the atmosphere had reached lev-
els not seen in millions of years.
“A code red for humanity,” he
said in August, reacting to a land-
mark scientific report that de-
tailed how humans had pushed
the climate into “unprecedented”
territory. “There is no time for
delay and no room for excuses.”
In September, he lamented the
“suicidal war” that humanity is
waging on nature. “The climate
alarm bells are also ringing at
fever pitch,” Guterres warned
leaders gathered for the U.N. Gen-
eral Assembly. “We are weeks
away from the U.N. climate con-
ference in Glasgow, but seemingly
light-years away from reaching
our targets.” He added that the
combination of climate change
and covid-19 had “exposed pro-
found fragilities as societies and
as a planet.”
“Yet instead of humility in the
face of these epic challenges, we
see hubris,” he said. “Instead of
the path of solidarity, we are on a
dead end to destruction.”
Guterres has not shied away
from calling for leaders to em-
brace far-reaching — and often
politically difficult — changes. He
has said the world must end the
construction of coal-fired power
plants and halt fossil fuel subsi-
dies. He has pleaded with nations
to put more stimulus money
toward green infrastructure. He
has insisted that rich nations
must do far more to help poorer,
vulnerable countries prepare for
worsening climate disasters. He
has backed a global tax on carbon.
He told The Post that while
climate change had been “a con-
cern for many years,” it was not
central to his previous public life.
Guterres, a native of Lisbon,
studied physics and electrical en-
gineering and spent time as a
university professor before
launching a political career in the
mid-1970s. He served as a mem-
ber of the Portuguese parliament
for 17 years and then as prime
minister from 1995 to 2002. He
noted that he had backed efforts
to incentivize the growth of re-
newable energy, helping put the
nation on a path to becoming a
leader in that area.

It was during his decade as the U.N. high commissioner for refu- gees, from 2005 to 2015, that he says he grasped that “climate change was also a factor” in the conflicts and deteriorating conditions that led many people to abandon their communities, “for the simple reason that life is no longer possible there.” Guterres took the helm of the United Nations in January 2017, weeks before Donald Trump en- tered the White House. Gone was much of the optimism that abounded when nearly 200 countries had finalized the Paris agreement barely a year earlier. Ameri- ca’s new president made clear he wanted no part of the international effort to address climate change, and Guterres had to stand by as the United States withdrew from the Paris accord. “It’s interesting to see his whole journey,” Laurence Tubi- ana, a French economist and diplomat, and one of the architects of the Paris agreement, said of Gu- terres in an interview. “I think he has grown into [the role],” she added, saying that as Guterres gained a deeper understanding of climate change and grasped its urgency, he became more outspoken on the need for profound action. “This is the product of many actors,” she said, “but the resil- ience of the Paris agreement, in good part, is due to António Gu- terres sticking to it and mention- ing that we don’t have any other choice but to fill these commitments.” He also has been consistent in insi sting that the gray-haired leaders of the world — of which he is admittedly one — should heed the calls from young people to move faster and more forcefully on climate change. Guterres has featured the voices of young activists at U.N. climate gatherings, and he meets regularly with a group of youth climate advisers. “He really feels others and hears others,” Nisreen Elsaim, 26, one of those advisers and a nego- tiator for African nations, said in an interview. “Diplomacy didn’t erase his identity; it didn’t erase his humanity.... He’s frustrated sometimes, he’s hopeful sometimes, he’s excited sometimes.” But always, she said, he “takes climate change and young people seriously.” Days before leaders begin to arrive at this year’s much-antici- pated U.N. climate summit, Gu- terres knows that the math is not adding up the way he and many other advocates had hoped it would by now. Rather than digging into their pockets to fulfill their financial pledges to poor nations battered by climate impacts and a persis- tent pandemic, rich nations have failed two years running to meet their funding promises. Rather than bold new commitments to put the world on a path to remain “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) of warming, as the Paris agreement states, current pledges would lead to a trajectory closer to 2.7 degrees Cel- sius. He is hopeful that break- throughs might still happen in coming days, but also realistic enough to acknowledge that they might not. “Glasgow can become a missed opportunity. And we have no time for missed opportu- nities,” he said. But both the diplomat and the grandfather in Guterres know that even if world leaders fail to make meaningful progress in Scotland, only one option re- mains. “The next day,” he said, “we start again.” [email protected]

U.N. chief sees climate as top ‘political battle of my life’

As COP26 summit nears, Guterres warns, exhorts and scolds world leaders

FELIX ZAHN/PHOTOTHEK/GETTY IMAGES U.N. Secretary General António Guterres hopes he can help persuade the world to make “peace with nature” in order to create “the best possible conditions for human beings to inhabit planet Earth.”

MATT CAMPBELL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES Guterres, then the prime minister of Portugal, is greeted by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan before the 1998 General Assembly.

“At best, Guterres can exert a moral force. ... He

has no army, no legislative authority, no taxing

authority.... He has a difficult row to hoe.” Stephen C. Schlesinger, an expert on the United Nations

The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-27)

Get our desktop app

Company

Features

Documentation

Resources