Chris Bowen’s call to end fossil fuel use appears to have fallen on deaf ears at the UN Cop28 climate talks, prompting critics to scoff at the Climate Change and Energy minister’s impact.
‘We have to face this fact head-on,’ he said at a crisis meeting. ‘If we are to keep 1.5 degrees alive, fossil fuels have no ongoing role to play in our energy systems.’
‘I speak as the climate and energy minister of one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters,’ Bowen said.
‘We embrace that fact and acknowledge it because we also live in the Pacific, and we are not going to see our brothers and sisters inundated and their countries swallowed by the seas. We are not going to do that.’
Mr Bowen called for the end of fossil fuels at the talks but a draft agreement showed that was a big hurdle to overcome
Chris Bowen is pictured with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
But as Mr Bowen flew out from the two-week summit in Dubai the conference released a draft deal that did not vow to end fossil fuels and was so watered-down in its commitments that climate advocates called it an ’embarrassing and dismal failure’.
Conservative commentator Steve Price was quick to pounce on the underwhelming result of Mr Bowen’s efforts, labelling him a ‘climate zealot and fantasist’, before accusing him of embarrassing on Sky News show The Bolt Report on Tuesday night.
‘Chris Bowen, like he does back home, decided to play the tough guy all full of bluster and hubris,’ Price said.
‘His hilarious declaration included calls for to end the use of fossil fuels in our energy grid.
‘He then went to hammer home his fantasy by calling on the world not to phase out fossil fuel emissions but to end their use entirely.’
At the conference, Mr Bowen said phasing out fossil fuels was ”s biggest economic potential as renewable energy superpower’.
Price did not agree that ending fossil fuel use and export was an economic opportunity for .
‘Seriously this is a senior minister in the n government standing up in the oil and gas kingdom called Dubai calling for the end of ‘s fossil fuel exports at the cost of billions and billions of lost revenue and hundreds of jobs,’ Price said.
Price said it was ‘delicious’ that the draft agreement dropped any mention of phasing out fossil fuels with the conference being held in a tiny kingdom that still manages to be the world’s eight largest oil producer.
‘The Arab oil producers hosted a climate change talkfest said ‘thanks for coming’ but we are going to keep doing what makes the palaces of Dubai possible and the country rich by, wait for it, pumping oil out of the ground,’ Price said.
‘It’s so funny I wonder if the climate and energy minister of actually gets the joke.’
Host Cop28 nation United Arab Emirates produces more than 4 million barrels of oil per day and the hydrocarbon sector makes up a quarter of the small Arab state’s GDP, half of its exports and 80 per cent of government revenues.
It is understood that UAE’s bordering neighbour Saudi Arabia, the world’s second largest oil producer, is the main stumbling block to Cop28 deciding on tougher climate actions.
While at the conference Mr Bowen described the Saudi position as ‘blunt and clear’ but said he had long and respectful meeting with his Saudi counterpart.
‘Not every country is yet on the same page,’ Mr Bowen said.
‘That’s why we are here. We didn’t all arrive, get off the plane, with the same speaking notes.
‘That’s what these conferences are about, to draw out the issues and reach a consensus.
Veteran climate change actives and former US vice president Al Gore did not hold back in expressing his dismay at the Cop28 draft agreement.
‘COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure,’ he tweeted.
‘This obsequious draft reads as if OPEC (the association of oil exporting nations) dictated it word for word. It is even worse than many had feared.’
Conservative firebrand Steve Price did not hold back when commenting on Chris Bowens ‘accomplishments’ at the Cop28 talks
Mr Gore said only one thing could rescue proceedings.
‘In order to prevent COP28 from being the most embarrassing and dismal failure in 28 years of international climate negotiations, the final text must include clear language on phasing out fossil fuels,’ he said.
‘Anything else is a massive step backwards from where the world needs to be.’