UN says Australia must quit coal by 2030, reach net zero by 2040, no new coal or gas

The Secretary General of the United Nations has called on the world’s wealthy nations, including Australia, to sign a pact to reach net zero emissions 2040, to phase out coal power by 2030, and to block the extraction of any new oil or gas.

In a video message recorded for the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth major report, the UN chief António Guterres proposes G20 agree to a Climate Solidarity Pact to “super charge” mitigation efforts and “keep 1.5°C alive.”

Guterres says the “all-hands-on-deck Acceleration Agenda” would start with parties immediately hitting the fast-forward button on their net zero deadlines, in line with differing national circumstances, and with OECD countries setting the pace.

For Australia, which celebrated its 50th anniversary as an OECD member in 2021, this would mean no new coal and the phasing out of existing coal by 2030, more than a decade ahead of the fossil fuel industry’s current plans.

It would also mean ending all international public and private funding of coal; ensuring net-zero electricity generation by 2035; ceasing all licensing or funding of new oil and gas; stopping any expansion of existing oil and gas reserves; shifting subsidies from fossil fuels to a just energy transition, and; phasing down existing oil and gas production compatible with the 2050 global net zero target.

“I urge all governments to prepare energy transition plans consistent with these actions and ready for investors,” Guterres said.

“Partial pledges won’t cut it.

“I look forward to welcoming ‘first movers’ on the Acceleration Agenda at the Climate Ambition Summit in September in New York.”

The crystal clear instructions from Guterres on what is expected from the world’s wealthiest nations and biggest emitters – and when it is expected by – distills down the message from the hefty IPCC report, in case some people missed or dismissed it.

Because that is the great concern: that the tireless work of hundreds of scientists and the increasing desperation of their call to action will disappear out of the news cycle and out of the collective consciousness before you can say “Rupert Murdoch is getting married again.”

In Australia, calls from The Greens to suspend standing orders in both houses of Parliament on Tuesday to discuss the gravity and substance of the IPCC report were broadly rejected, including by the Labor government.

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen appears to have argued that it would be counter-productive to suspend the business of parliament to discuss climate action when that will only delay debate over the Safeguard Mechanism.

But it’s also true to say that it would be pretty tough to argue that banning new coal and gas projects is irrelevant to Australia’s emissions reduction legislation after discussing a report where scientists are practically begging the world to stop digging up and burning fossil fuels – now.

“Will we grasp that nettle?” Bowen asked the House of Reps on Tuesday, in his own call to action, but in this case an appeal for less ambition.

“Will we give Australians the action on climate that they voted for last May. Will parties of good will and good faith come together to work together to deliver that or will they not?

“Because Honourable Members who call for higher targets, Honourable Members who say 43 is not enough, there’s an obligation then to vote for policies which achieve emissions reduction even if they’re not, from their point of view, 100% perfect.”

Iron ore billionaire and green hydrogen investor Andrew Forrest lent his weight to the UN call.

“Those executive and political leaders who do not exercise their imagination and innovative skills to move away from fossil fuels within an acceptable timetable, must feel the shame of their selfish short-sightedness,” he said in a statement.

“Further, these executives and politicians are not enriching the standard of delivery to their stakeholders by clinging to fossil fuels, rather they will impoverish them.

“This is essentially the last IPCC report we have while it is still possible to avoid 1.5°C warming. By the time the next report comes out, we will either have achieved what needs to be achieved, or we are treading down the pathway of an unliveable planet.

“There is no part of the planet that will not be changed by our failure to act. Every day counts if we are to halve global emissions by 2030.”

See also: New IPCC report shows Labor’s approach is deadly and reckless

And: IPCC climate warning leaves no room for coal and gas, little room for offsets

And: What price clean air? This benefit alone will cover cost of 1.5°C climate action