Ketan Joshi
Senior Research Associate

Last week Climate Minister Chris Bowen was at COP30 in Brazil, where, at the very last minute, Australia signed onto something known as the “BELEM DECLARATION ON THE TRANSITION AWAY FROM FOSSIL FUELS”.

The Declaration is what it sounds like – a plan to collectively work towards “a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels”, with a point specifically on helping countries “reduce structural dependence on fossil fuel…importation”.

By our calculations, Australia was in the Belem Declaration for less than 24 hours when Prime Minister Albanese said this at a press conference:

JOURNALIST: Do you understand how people would understand that now that you’ve signed up to this declaration that there would be movement on tapering off coal exports or gas exports or gas in general? You’re saying that that’s not the case at all?

PRIME MINISTER: No.

So somehow Australia is both helping countries reduce gas and coal imports while expanding our exports of gas and coal.

Less fossil fuels with more fossil fuels.

File this one with “Peace through war”. “Transparency through secrecy”. “Acting and not acting on gambling”.