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Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, July thirty, twenty twenty five. Pro Palestinian activists

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Speaker 1: say they'll take their fight to court if New South

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Speaker 1: Wales Premier Chris Mins doesn't let the march across the

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Speaker 1: Harbor Bridge this weekend. Schools are turning out more top performers,

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Speaker 1: but naplan results are flatlining overall, and the strongest predictor

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Speaker 1: of kids' performance at school is still their parents' background.

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Speaker 1: Check those stories out right now at the Australian dot

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Speaker 1: com dot au. Carbon capture and storage is back in

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Speaker 1: the energy conversation and investment in wind farms is collapsing.

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Speaker 1: That's as the government backs away from a United Nations

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Speaker 1: climate chiefs claim that fruit and veggies might become a

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Speaker 1: once a year treat if we don't speed up the

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Speaker 1: energy transition. Today, where are we actually heading on climate?

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Speaker 1: And is cozying up with the UN a good idea.

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Speaker 1: Australia has a long and proud history of attention grabbing

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Speaker 1: moments in the debate about climate and energy. From Barnaby Joyce,

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Speaker 1: I don't think your working mothers are going to be

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Speaker 1: very happy when they're paying over one hundred dollars for

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Speaker 1: a rose. To Scott Morrison, this is Carl.

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Speaker 2: Don't be fright, don't be scared. Treasurer knows the role

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Speaker 2: on Crops Street.

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Speaker 1: It's calm and now a un climate changes are who

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Speaker 1: says extreme weather events are becoming so frequent we might

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Speaker 1: have to change our diets completely.

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Speaker 3: Unchecked climate change would cripple Australia's food production. Today's supermarket

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Speaker 3: price pain will look like a picnic with mega droughts,

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Speaker 3: making fresh fruit once a year treat.

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Speaker 1: That's a voice actor reading the words of Simon Steele,

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Speaker 1: Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,

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Speaker 1: and he made his claim in his speech in Sydney.

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Speaker 1: Here's some audio of Simon Steele's speech.

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Speaker 2: This is the moment to get behind a climate plan

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Speaker 2: that doesn't just right that vision into policy, but delivers

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Speaker 2: in spees for your people. So don't settle for what's easy.

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Speaker 2: Box standard is beneath you.

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Speaker 1: Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, who met with Steel on Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: seemed to recognize Steele's intervention might not be helpful. A

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Speaker 1: voice actor is reading part of a statement. The Minister released.

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Speaker 3: Targets are easier set than Matt. We will set a

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Speaker 3: target informed by the expert advice in the national interest.

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Speaker 4: Simon Steele is the UN's top climate diplomat. He goes

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Speaker 4: around the world and talks to leaders of countries like

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Speaker 4: Australia about their climate ambitions and essentially presents the UN view,

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Speaker 4: which is often for pretty much every country, do more,

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Speaker 4: go harder, go as high as you can with those

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Speaker 4: ambitious targets.

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Speaker 1: Sarah Eisen is a federal political reporter with The Australian.

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Speaker 4: So he's in Australia now doing exactly that, meeting with

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Speaker 4: Chris Bowen, who calls Simon Steel a friend. They've gotten

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Speaker 4: to know each other on the international circuit, so it's

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Speaker 4: been an interesting time seeing him commentate on Australian politics

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Speaker 4: really and climate policy as he engages in this tour.

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Speaker 1: Simon Steele is a politician in his own right. He

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Speaker 1: was a climate minister in Grenada, the Caribbean Island group

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Speaker 1: where sea level rise and extreme storm activity are regarded

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Speaker 1: as existential threats, and when his Conservative New National Party

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Speaker 1: was turfed out of power in twenty twenty two, Steele

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Speaker 1: joined the un he made a fairly startling suggestion about

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Speaker 1: fruit and vegetables. What does that mean?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, he said that fruit and vegetable will become this

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Speaker 4: sort of once a year treat. What he means by

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Speaker 4: that is that without more climate action and more ambitious

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Speaker 4: emission reduction targets, we'll see droughts and other major climate events,

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Speaker 4: essentially meaning that fruits and vegetables won't grow in the

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Speaker 4: same way that we enjoy now, and that they'll be

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Speaker 4: so expensive and or so scarce that'll be a once

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Speaker 4: a year treat to enjoy.

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Speaker 1: The Albaneze government has a goal of net zero by

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Speaker 1: twenty fifty. What's the problem with that? According to Simon Steel.

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Speaker 4: Well, we need to set ambitious twenty thirty five targets

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Speaker 4: basically show how we're going to get from here to

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Speaker 4: the twenty fifty target. With that interim target, twenty thirty

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Speaker 4: five needs to be something that in his view, needs

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Speaker 4: to be really ambitious, set out a blueprint for the

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Speaker 4: near now. It's interesting because by September the government is

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Speaker 4: expected to announce its twenty thirty five target. It will

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Speaker 4: be interesting to see what that figure is sort of

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Speaker 4: widely tarted to maybe be maybe a sixty percent figure.

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Speaker 4: I'm sure Simon Steel want it to be even higher.

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Speaker 4: He's been not too prescriptive when asked directly what does

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Speaker 4: it need to be, but he is obviously saying go hard,

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Speaker 4: go as hard as you can.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the federal government's got to meet that twenty fifty target,

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Speaker 1: of course, but it also has to keep the lights on.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, the Prime ministers had to defend the

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Speaker 1: government against environmental activisties say he's not going fast enough,

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Speaker 1: making decisions like approving the gas project on the Northwest

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Speaker 1: Shelf to run until twenty seventy. So what are practically

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Speaker 1: the things that the government might be considering doing to

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Speaker 1: go faster.

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Speaker 4: On Tuesday, Chris Bowen's announced a twenty five percent increase

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Speaker 4: to the Climate Capacity Investment Scheme. Basically, this scheme is

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Speaker 4: about underwriting renewable energy generate like wind and solar. So

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Speaker 4: by increasing the investment in that scheme, you're trying to

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Speaker 4: really boost those renewables, particularly with that target of more

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Speaker 4: than eighty percent of our electricity being generated by those

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Speaker 4: renewables in the very near future. But the government will

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Speaker 4: just i think double down in the way and the

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Speaker 4: direction that it's charted so far. It will, of course

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Speaker 4: not just do a hard pivot though from some of

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Speaker 4: the traditional energy sources as you mentioned in the Northwest Shelf,

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Speaker 4: and Albenezy and Crispowen are trying to walk the line

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Speaker 4: of not seeing any huge increase to power prices or

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Speaker 4: market disruption while really delivering on what they say is

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Speaker 4: very much their mandate and being ambitious when it comes

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Speaker 4: to climate change and environmental protection.

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Speaker 1: Every year, nations from around the world meet at a

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Speaker 1: UN Conference of Parties, also known as COP. It's where

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Speaker 1: big decisions on climate are made. Australia and Turkey both

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Speaker 1: want to host COP thirty one in twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 1: and it's turned into quite the diplomatic standoff, with neither

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Speaker 1: country willing to graciously step aside for the other to

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Speaker 1: get the gig. If Australia hosts, it'd be in partnership

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Speaker 1: with our Pacific Island neighbors.

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Speaker 4: I think we saw after Alberzei won the twenty twenty

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Speaker 4: two election, and we've seen that since is he likes

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Speaker 4: to seem very presidential on the international stage, and for

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Speaker 4: Australia to host this it would be a huge historic moment,

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Speaker 4: and I think for someone who wants to make a

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Speaker 4: huge mark on the country but also the country's placed

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Speaker 4: in the world, Alberanze's really keen on landing this. The

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Speaker 4: other side of that coin is the scrutiny that goes

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Speaker 4: along with it. Now. The Prime Minister and Energy Minister

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Speaker 4: have talked for a long time that KOP needs to

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Speaker 4: be here in Australia because it's also surrounded by Pacific

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Speaker 4: island nations. That's been quite clear. And the problem is

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Speaker 4: that they have been demanding for some time, not just

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Speaker 4: under the coalition government done under the government, for much

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Speaker 4: more to be done on climate change, much more ambition

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Speaker 4: to be taken, for this to really be given the

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Speaker 4: seriousness that it deserves in their eyes when they see

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Speaker 4: the issue of climate change as does an existential threat.

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Speaker 4: So for Australia to host this and then potentially be

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Speaker 4: criticized or told to go further by the very colleagues

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Speaker 4: on the international stage that it's hosting this event with

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Speaker 4: those specific island nations, I mean, that could generate quite

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Speaker 4: a lot of bad press, scrutiny, criticism of the Albanese government.

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Speaker 4: So there's definitely risk that comes with it, but I

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Speaker 4: think the Labor government is seeing it as something that

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Speaker 4: would still be a historic moment and a huge win

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Speaker 4: for them in the long term.

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Speaker 1: Climate has been a landmine for many Australian prime ministers.

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Speaker 1: It's cost the careers of several as we've thrashed out

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Speaker 1: the debate over first where the climate change was real

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Speaker 1: and then what to do about it. For Anthony Easy

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Speaker 1: at the last election, certainly the Greens were basically wiped

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Speaker 1: off the table in terms of the House of Representatives.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't now have to worry about making sure that

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Speaker 1: he's winning votes from the Greens of people who care

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Speaker 1: about climate change. So why the need to grandstand on

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Speaker 1: the international stage about this?

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Speaker 4: I mean that said, the Greens still do hold the

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Speaker 4: balance of power in the Senate and will try to

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Speaker 4: use that to push Albanesi and Labor to be ambitious

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Speaker 4: on environment. Why the need to grandstand beyond that? I mean,

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Speaker 4: if you look at the other nations, those that would

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Speaker 4: be part of copp G seventy twenty. I think Alberzi

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Speaker 4: he's on the world stage quite a lot. He enjoys

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Speaker 4: going to those summit semen. If it's just on the

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Speaker 4: sidelines and wants to be seen as a really serious

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Speaker 4: player in a number of ways, but particularly in climate

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Speaker 4: change and the environment. So I think it's something that

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Speaker 4: he still sees is very central as an international leadership moment.

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Speaker 4: And again the Greens will still be highly critical of

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Speaker 4: an Albanzi government that was given such a smashing mandate

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Speaker 4: but didn't do anything with it for the climate. So

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Speaker 4: that is also what some voters together lest we'll think of.

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Speaker 4: You know, a lot of people ask after the election, well, okay,

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Speaker 4: you got this huge mandate, what are you going to do?

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Speaker 1: Coming up? The climate debate raging inside the coalition. Back

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Speaker 1: at the top of this episode, you heard Barnaby Joyce,

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Speaker 1: the National MP who shot to fame, talking about one

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars lamb roasts back in twenty twelve. It was

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Speaker 1: a warning back then about a carbon tax. Joyce is

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Speaker 1: back in this game now teaming up with a former

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Speaker 1: NATS leader, Michael McCormack, to make life difficult for opposition

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Speaker 1: leader Susan Lee by arguing the coalition should oppose the

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Speaker 1: net zero target. Joyce has always been a green energy skiptic. McCormack, though,

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Speaker 1: had been more centrist.

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Speaker 4: That was a surprise to not only us up here

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Speaker 4: in the press, Garry, but actually a lot of his colleagues. Frankly,

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Speaker 4: a lot of them told me they've lost a bit

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Speaker 4: of respect for Michael, who's always been seen as someone

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Speaker 4: who's very sensible and middle of the road. So that

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Speaker 4: really reheeded this huge debate on net zero that said

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Speaker 4: Nationals say definitely more than half of their party room

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Speaker 4: don't support net zero. The question is what to do

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Speaker 4: about that. They want to kind of graceful dismount from

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Speaker 4: this policy, whereas Barnaby and McCormack going out quite publicly

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Speaker 4: without consulting colleagues and doing a bunch of interviews and

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Speaker 4: doorstops and so on, continuing to spook this while the

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Speaker 4: Coalition tries to do a more sensible review and get

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Speaker 4: all the voices heard. It caused a lot of frustration

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Speaker 4: within the Coalition ranks and really was very much welcomed

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Speaker 4: by the Government who felt like they could sit back

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Speaker 4: this sitting fortnite and watch the coalition fight amongst themselves.

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Speaker 1: Investment in the future of energy is really hard. Green

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Speaker 1: hydrogen has basically failed now in Australia, with backers pulling

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Speaker 1: out of giant projects that that attempted with running a

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Speaker 1: story in The Australian on Wednesday about how wind farm

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Speaker 1: investment in Australia has ground to a halt. Do you feel, Sarah,

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Speaker 1: as the government has big ideas beyond a slight increase

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Speaker 1: in the subsidies that they're giving to people who are

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Speaker 1: prepared to put their money on the line for these

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Speaker 1: kinds of investments.

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Speaker 4: Albaniz he has said on a number of occasions that

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Speaker 4: this decade will define decades to come, and he means

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Speaker 4: that for a number of different sectors and metrics, but

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Speaker 4: particularly in the environment and the climate, and he sees

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Speaker 4: himself and his government as being at the helm of

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Speaker 4: that decade. I think with language like that, with what

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Speaker 4: someone might call ideas of grandeur like that, I think

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Speaker 4: it would be surprising for there not to be a

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Speaker 4: real doubling down and further investment, further release of really

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Speaker 4: ambitious policy. In this way, he and the Greater Party

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Speaker 4: want to leave their mark, and the climate is a

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Speaker 4: really key area where they feel they can do that.

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Speaker 4: But as you've pointed out, regarding some of those challenges,

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Speaker 4: lack of investment and so on, it's a pretty big

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Speaker 4: hill to climb.

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Speaker 1: Sarah Eisen is a political reporter with The Australian. You

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Speaker 1: can read all our coverage of federal, state and local

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Speaker 1: politics anytime at the Australian dot com dot au