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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/11/australia-cop31-chris-bowen-fossil-fuel-phaseout>
"Chris Bowen wants to use his stint as the world’s chief climate negotiator to
lobby Saudi Arabia and others to stop resisting progress at UN summits, heeding
calls for a “hard-nosed” approach in dealing with big emitters obstructing the
transition.
Appointed “president of negotiations” for Cop31 under the deal that handed
Turkey hosting rights for the conference, Australia’s climate change and energy
minister has told
Guardian Australia a focus ahead of the summit would be
talking to countries “with whom we don’t traditionally agree”.
Bowen mentioned Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Gulf state accused of repeatedly
obstructing efforts at UN summits to accelerate the phaseout of fossil fuels.
“We won’t get anywhere if we just have a jamboree of the willing,” Bowen said.
“We need to have a Cop which really tries to cross some of those bridges that
have been very difficult to cross in recent Cops.”
Asked how that would be achieved, Bowen said: “engagement, engagement,
engagement”.
Bowen’s comments follow a direct appeal from the former US secretary of state
John Kerry for Australia to actively push the world’s big emitters – including
China, Russia, the US and India – to develop a roadmap to end the era of fossil
fuels."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
