Gas, Coal and Greenwash: Why Australia Doesn’t Deserve to Host COP31
- Gregory Andrews
- Sep 13
- 3 min read
Australia is the world’s third-largest fossil fuel exporter and our government is still firmly focused on spin, greenwashing and hiding the truth rather than real climate action. We don’t deserve to host COP31. And we can’t be trusted.
Environment Minister Murray Watt just gave final approval for Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project to operate until 2070. This locks in one of the world’s largest fossil fuel projects for another 45 years. Yes, he attached some conditions, mostly about local air pollution. But not one of them alter the basic reality: his approval guarantees billions of tonnes of additional CO₂ in a world that has no room left for more. It locks in an extra 4.3 billion tonnes - enough to cancel out all rooftop solar in Australia 50 times over.
The International Energy Agency has been crystal clear: no new oil and gas fields, and no new coal mine extensions, if the world is to keep global heating to 1.5 degrees. Yet the Albanese Government insists gas will be “important for decades,” and it continues to approve fossil fuel projects as if the Paris Agreement doesn’t exist. Last year Tanya Plibersek signed off three massive coal mine expansions in New South Wales. Watt’s Woodside approval now adds gas to the list of contradictions. This isn’t climate leadership. It’s climate vandalism.
The hypocrisy is glaring because Australia is simultaneously campaigning to co-host COP31 with the Pacific. We can’t claim to be leading the world on climate while we keep feeding the very problem COPs are meant to solve. Hosting a COP is not a prize or a photo opportunity; it is a responsibility. It requires integrity.
The Pacific knows this. Just this week, Vanuatu refused to sign a $500 million security agreement with Canberra. The context matters: Vanuatu has been a moral compass in climate diplomacy, from pushing the International Court of Justice to rule on climate obligations to demanding a global phase-out of fossil fuels. Is it any surprise that Port Vila balks at deepening ties with a partner that talks “family” while approving massive gas projects?
Australia’s whole climate posture is built on contradictions. We legislate domestic targets, subsidise batteries, spruik solar panels and trumpet the so-called Safeguard Mechanism. But then we add to the fossil fuel pipeline. We protect Murujuga’s rock art from industrial fumes - a good thing - but enable the same project to fuel global heating that will drown whole Pacific nations. We count domestic emissions, but ignore exported pollution from our coal and gas, which swamps our domestic emissions. The accounting tricks might pass with those who are drinking the Kool Aid. But the atmosphere counts everything. At a global level, Australia ranks third for fossil fuel exports. Our exported emissions are already more than double our domestic emissions.
Supporters of gas argue it’s somehow better than coal. But better is not good enough when the science says stop. Extending one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel operations until today’s children are grandparents is not compatible with keeping them safe. And it’s incompatible with the basic trust required to host a COP.
If Australia wanted to present a credible host bid, it would have done three things. First, declare an immediate moratorium on new coal and gas projects - including extensions disguised as “no new infrastructure.” Second, replace the Future Gas Strategy with a Fossil Fuel Decline Plan that sets binding caps on extraction and supports workers through transition. Third, own up to our exported emissions and start shrinking them, with caps, levies, and international diplomacy to phase out fossil fuels.
None of this is radical. It is simply aligning our policies with the science. It is the bare minimum required to protect our kids and Country. Anything less makes us a hypocrite on the world stage.
The United Nations climate summit should be where nations come together to close the ambition gap, to raise targets, to chart a pathway for survival. If Australia is allowed to host while still licensing fossil fuels to 2070, the credibility of the entire COP process will be damaged.
The truth is simple: you can’t host the climate conference of the world while pouring petrol on the fire. Until Australia reverses course, we shouldn’t be allowed to host COP31.
I absolutely agree. We shouldn’t be hosting such a huge waste of money. We need to go nuclear and build a few more dams in Tasmania and the NSW/Victoria high country. It is the only way to get cheap reliable electricity. If we don’t have cheap reliable electricity, our economy will suffer and people will lose jobs. People without jobs will not care about the environment; only that they can look after their family.
Ditch the COP31 as a waste of time and money.
I am incredulous that politicians of all flavours are hell bent on planetary destruction.I asked my Federal Labor MP why.She said it's to do with money and power,that you have to talk to politicians in their language.It's no good talking climate science to them, such is their egotism.
Even more than that, we should be stopped from hosting COP31, presumably by it being awarded to Türkiye. This should give the very climate-soft government pause to realise that the Pacific Islanders are right. We are a real laggard on climate action.
The world is full of hypocrisy. We are competing against Turkiye which is hardly a paragon of virtue, it's just that we are much worse. The COPs have been compromised by the fossil fuel industry.
Are all our politicians in agreement with the Prime Minister about hosting the COP13 or are any of them in agreement with you Gregory. as am I?