In response to the outcome of COP30, Oxfam Australia Policy and Advocacy Lead Josie Lee says:
“Australia made some incremental progress at COP30, but the biggest barrier to meaningful climate action remains unchanged: developed countries like ours are still failing to provide the climate funding low-income countries urgently need. Australia built its wealth on coal and gas, and we now have a responsibility to phase out climate pollution quickly at home and properly support countries on the frontlines of climate change impacts. As President of Negotiations next year, Minister Bowen must lead negotiations for scaled-up finance for developing countries or risk making the climate crisis worse.
“At the Global Climate Summits climate finance negotiations remain amongst the most contentious, hampering progress. If Australia is serious about standing with the Pacific and showing leadership in our Presidency role, we must announce our new climate finance goal for 2025-30 and ensure it includes funding for adapting to climate change impacts and recovery from the losses and damages. One of the clearest ways to raise this funding is to ensure the big coal and gas companies that have driven the climate crisis finally pay their fair share.
“COP30 brought a spark of hope but far more heartbreak, as global leaders again failed to reach the ambition needed for a livable planet. Communities from developing countries came to Belém seeking progress on adaptation and finance, but rich nations, including Australia, refused to deliver. This leaves frontline communities exposed to escalating climate impacts with few options for survival. A just transition requires those who built their fortunes on fossil fuels to move first and fastest, and to provide finance to low-income countries as grants rather than loans.
“There is hope in the Belém Action Mechanism that was agreed at COP30, which centres workers’ rights, First Nations rights and justice in the shift away from fossil fuels. But without substantial new finance from wealthy countries, just energy transitions will stall in many places.
“Our power lies in people, and no previous COP has placed human rights so firmly at the centre. Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Quilombola communities, women land defenders and civil society across the world continue to demand true climate justice. Their leadership is a reminder of what is possible, and we will keep pushing governments, the fossil fuel industry and the super-rich until a safe climate and a more equal future becomes reality.
“Australia showed important leadership in signing the Belem Declaration on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels on the sidelines of the COP30 Global Climate Summit. Now the world’s eyes will be on Australia as COP President of Negotiations to continue that leadership next year, leading the development of Global Implementation Accelerator to close the gap in ambition to stop temperatures warming above 1.5C and accelerating the fossil fuel phase out.”
For interviews, contact Lucy Brown on [email protected] / 0478 190 099
