Australia said it will join German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s climate club to help expand international cooperation on tackling global warming amid record temperatures.
(Bloomberg) — Australia said it will join German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s climate club to help expand international cooperation on tackling global warming amid record temperatures.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the move on Monday at a news conference with Scholz after talks in Berlin. He said the club, which the German leader launched as host of last year’s Group of Seven summit in Bavaria, is a “high-ambition initiative” to address what he called the world’s most pressing challenge.
“We’re united in our commitment to being ambitious about taking up the opportunities that come from acting on climate,” Albanese added. Scholz said that through their cooperation, “Germany and Australia are making an important contribution to achieving climate neutrality.”
Scholz established the club as a forum to discuss policies to reduce emissions and coordinate on the most effective way to limit global warming. Australia, one of the world’s largest coal exporters, will be the 15th member of the group, which includes Japan, France, Indonesia, the UK and the US.
Albanese is in Europe to attend the two-day NATO summit in Vilnius starting on Tuesday. Ahead of the meeting, he announced that Australia would be deploying an E-7A Wedgetail reconnaissance aircraft to Germany for around six months from October to help protect a multinational supply hub to Ukraine.
Read more: Australia Signs $664 Million Deal on Combat Vehicles for Germany
The world experienced its hottest day on record on Monday, July 3, with an average temperature of 17C (63F). One day later, the record was broken again, with an average of 17.2C.
Since coming to power in May 2022, Albanese’s center-left Labor government has worked to expand action on climate change, including enshrining in law the country’s first ever targets to cut emissions. Under Labor, Australia will be aiming to reduce its emissions by 43% compared with 2005 levels by the end of 2030.
Read more: How Extreme Heat and Humidity Test Survival Limits: QuickTake
Australia is campaigning to host the 2026 UN climate conference, in collaboration with neighboring Pacific nations, and is trying to ramp up its production of green minerals and renewable power.
However, it’s still one of the world’s largest coal exporters, with volumes expected to rise over the coming year due to growing demand in India and Southeast Asia.
At the same time, the government is still approving new coal mines, despite its pledge to cut emissions. Earlier this month, Idemitsu Kosan Co. was given permission to mine power-station coal at Ensham in Queensland for a further nine years.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.