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Australia will not block Turkey’s bid to host the COP climate conference next year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared, as he shifts his focus to pushing for Pacific nations to benefit from the event.
Both Australia and Turkey have been vying to host the event under rules that require unanimity to pick a destination, raising the spectre the event would revert to the German city of Bonn in a scenario that Albanese said in WA on Tuesday was bad for unity on climate.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s move to rule out a veto means Turkey will host COP if it persists with its bid and no other nation intervenes.Credit: Sam Mooy
Albanese said Australia would advocate for a separate leaders meeting on climate change to be held in the Pacific and more money for a resiliency fund for the region if Turkey plays host to the main event.
“The way that the system works is that if there is not agreement, and there’s more than one candidate, it goes to Bonn,” Albanese said.
“There is considerable concern, not just from the Pacific, but internationally as well, that that will not send a good signal about the unity that’s needed for the world to act on climate.
“And if Australia is not chosen, if Turkey is chosen, we wouldn’t seek to veto that.”
Turkey and Australia have been negotiating for months over which nation will host the world’s biggest climate conference next year, including during the past two weeks of this year’s global talks in Belem, Brazil.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been on the ground since the weekend, arguing for Australia’s bid in concert with Pacific nations that are already suffering severe consequences from climate change.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is refusing to budge on his bid for the event.
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Germany, as host of the UN climate organisation, is the backstop destination for COP under the rules of the treaty that established the annual event. But the German government has made clear it does not want to host it at such short notice.
Reports have put the cost of hosting COP in Australia at up to $2 billion, which the government has refused to confirm. Green groups have argued the event could bring investment to Australia and enhance diplomatic ties with the Pacific.
Albanese said that Australia had support for its bid, but that he would not stand in Turkey’s way if support coalesced around its campaign to host.
“What we would seek to do is to ensure that the Pacific benefited from that through measures, potentially like a leaders meeting to be held in the Pacific,” Albanese said in Western Australia on Tuesday.
“We will prioritise making sure that the Pacific’s interests are looked after, but this is a difficult situation because of the rules and the way that they operate.”
The remarks are a major departure from Bowen’s comments. The minister said overnight that Australia was still vigorously pursuing its bid to host the conference, which the government has said it would bring to Adelaide next year.
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“We are in it, and we are in it to win it. Let me make it clear, we’re not going anywhere. South Australia’s not going anywhere,” he said. “It’s the fight we’ve going to have because it is very much in Australia’s interests and I believe in the world’s interest, having Australia as the president [and host] of COP31.”
Turkey’s deputy climate change minister Fatma Varank said overnight that her country had sought to be constructive but Australia had refused to yield and had stalled negotiations.
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