Australia: new negotiator, new opportunities?

After two years at the helm of Australia’s delegation, Louise Hand who also spoke on behalf of the powerful Umbrella group has taken up a gig as the Ambassador of Canada. Needless to say, taking tough on climate change will not be on her agenda in discussions with the Canadian government. Despite the obvious need for it…

Australia’s new Ambassador for Climate Change and lead negotiator at the UNFCCC, Dr Justin Lee was previously Australia’s High Commissioner for Bangladesh. With firsthand experience of working in a country, which is extremely vulnerable to climate change, Dr Lee will know the issues confronting the most vulnerable countries.

With Australia needing to roll up its sleeves and join the coalition of the willing (EU, AOSIS and LDCs) in discussions around legal form and increasing mitigation, I hope that Dr Lee’s experiences of working in Bangladesh might help shape Australia’s position. At COP18 in Durban last year, Australia dragged it heals on many issues (the Green Climate Fund being one exception) joining long-time climate laggard US and Canada in blocking tangible progress.

During the past two weeks of negotiations, other countries have been consistently urging Australia to join up to Kyoto. In particular, small Island states in the Pacific and the least developed countries in Africa and Asia are waiting to see if Australia will stand by them and play its role in international climate action.

The time has come for Australia to get with the program and join with others in a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol with strong greenhouse gas reduction goals.

With a new Ambassador, new relationships will need to be formed, with new relationships, new opportunities will arise.