Denial is back in vogue. As Australia leads climate talks, it’s beyond time we took the issue seriously
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- One Nation is surging in Australian polls while rejecting evidence of planetary warming and extreme weather worsening, and argues the climate change department should be abolished.
- Chris Bowen opened a UN climate meeting in Bonn by proposing a new global target of 35% of final use energy coming from electricity by 2035, up from "a little over 20%" today.
- Australia is "on the cusp of 50%" of electricity generation from solar, wind and hydroelectricity, with rooftop solar and household batteries already transforming how homes are powered.
- Bowen will serve as "president of negotiations" at the Cop31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey in November, in an unprecedented co-hosting arrangement with Turkey — while also holding cabinet responsibility for power prices and fuel supply.
- The Australian ran commentary arguing Bowen should quit and move to Bonn rather than split focus with the power grid; the Daily Telegraph editorialised that the Albanese government was "still trapped in a climate activism phase" — a reversal of its 2020 "Mission Zero" campaign for deep emissions cuts.
- The Albanese government sends mixed signals, backing renewables and cleaner cars while approving "massive fossil fuel developments for export," and has promised a $275 cut to power bills that is partly undermined by global gas prices.
- Bowen quoted the 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change to argue that meeting the Paris agreement's 1.5C–2C goals would "avoid massive economic costs," and analysts have said the 35% electrification target is consistent with 1.5C.
Why it matters: Bowen is positioning Australia to lead the Cop31 negotiations with the most ambitious global electrification push yet, even as the domestic political and media environment — surging denial from One Nation and hostile News Corp editorials — is actively hostile to the premise. The underlying contradiction is stark: Australia is on the cusp of 50% renewable electricity at home while still approving massive new fossil fuel export projects.
