The two Australias at Cop28: a country at odds with itself on the climate crisis

The Australian government told the Cop28 climate summit it wants to ‘end the use of fossil fuels’ in ‘energy systems’ but it has so far done little to reduce production of coal and gas for global markets. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Two years ago, when the former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison gave in to diplomatic pressure and turned up at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, the story of Australia’s response to the climate crisis was straightforward. There wasn’t one.

Morrison mustered a bit of half-hearted rhetoric and re-heated climate funding, and suffered through the fallout of French president Emmanuel Macron accusing him of lying, but did nothing to dispel the view that Australia had no meaningful climate policies and was a roadblock at the talks not far removed from the Russians and Saudis.