Barnaby Joyce has shrugged off climate criticism from the UN by saying the protection of liberal, democratic values is a more important short-term goal than reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Deputy Prime Minister was asked about remarks made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who publicly called out Australia for its failure to adopt an ambitious emissions reduction plan by 2030.
The UN chief used an address to a sustainability summit in London to take a public swipe at wealthy G20 nations’ climate change policies, singling out Australia as a “holdout”.
“A growing number of G20 developed economies have announced meaningful emissions reductions by 2030 – with a handful of holdouts, such as Australia,” he said.
He slammed the purchase of coal as a “stupid investment” and warned countries against sliding back to fossil fuels in response to the global energy shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Asked about Mr Guterres’ comments on Tuesday, Mr Joyce acknowledged climate change but said countries should be doing as much as possible to make sure their energy supplies were secure amid the Eastern European conflict.
“It’s just a statement of facts that the Poles, trying to make sure that they secure the capacity to keep txjmtzywheir people from freezing to death, are buying our coal,” he told reporters in the rural Queensland town of Proserpine.
Mr Joyce then reiterated his oft-repeated phrase of recent weeks that Australia “must become as strong as possible as quickly as possible”
His comments are in with the Coalition’s pre-election pitch to voters that it is the better choice for national security.
Mr Joyce suggested that now was not the time to focus on emissions reduction.
“Yes, climate change is an issue, but right now, we have an issue of how we keep people safe, how we keep people fed, how we assert our liberal, democratic views, the right of the individual,” he said.
“We have to acknowledge the issues pertinent to climate change, but we must be a realist about the circumstances that are before us.”
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher also brushed off the criticism, claiming Australia was outperforming like minded countries such as the US, Canada and New Zealand.
“The chattering classes of the UN can say what they want,” he told the ABC.
“We have beaten our Kyoto targets. We’re very confident we’ll meet our Paris targets.”
Scott Morrison went to the Glasgow climate summit last November without stronger 2030 targets and did not commit to phasing out coal.
Instead, the Prime Minister pointed to projections that showed Australia could reach a 35 per cent emissions reduction by 2030.
Mr Guterres said the Paris agreement to limit global warming to 1.5C was on “life support” but said the world could still act to meet it.
“Keeping 1.5 alive requires a 45 per cent reduction in global emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by mid-century. That problem was not solved in Glasgow,” he said.
He said wealthy nations had an addition to fossil fuels that was “madness” and akin to “mutually assured destruction”.
“As current events make all too clear, our continued reliance on fossil fuels puts the global economy and energy security at the mercy of geopolitical shocks and crises,” he said.
Climate Council’s Dr Simon Bradshaw called the UN chief’s comments “striking”.
“It’s very unusual for the UN Secretary-General to call out a specific country like this,” he told NCA NewsWire.
“It’s striking to see and indicates that we’re going to keep seeing global pressure on Australia until we step up.
“As COP27 and the G20 fast approach, we need to see Australia commit to swiftly and urgently reducing emissions now, this decade. 2050 is simply too late.”
