Australia has been urged not to cower in its fight for hosting rights of a major climate summit as the prime minister prepares to make his case for a rival bidder to stand down.
Canberra has teamed up with the Pacific countries in a proposal to jointly hold the 2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP31.
Turkey has also expressed an interest in hosting the summit and neither bidder has so far backed away from the chance to hold the talks on home soil.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York to try to convince the leader to withdraw Ankara’s bid.
Mr Albanese said he would advocate for Australia’s case in good faith, and he had already held discussions with Turkey’s leaders.
“It’s a joint bid and there’ll be a range of Pacific leaders here this week who will be advocating as well,” he told reporters on Monday.
“If we’re going to see our way through to a common position, it is highly likely there will be a need to be compromise.”
The prime minister will be hoping to emerge from the UN with a diplomatic victory on the world stage after failing to land formal deals with Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea in his last two overseas trips.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Australia “shouldn’t be cowering and letting Turkey win this battle”.
“Adelaide should be the host city and we should get on with showing leadership around the world,” she said.
“If the prime minister doesn’t bring COP home … that’ll be a fail.”
The conference will be held in the German city of Bonn under COP rules if an agreement can’t be reached between the two bidders.
The impasse must be solved before the latest climate conference, in Brazil, concludes in November.
The negotiations follow the federal government’s announcement of its 2035 emissions reduction target on Thursday.
Greenhouse gas emissions would need to be reduced by between 62 and 70 per cent from 2005 levels to reach the goal.
Under the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, nations must increase their targets every five years.
Climate Change Authority chair and former NSW Liberal treasurer Matt Kean said voters had sent a “pretty clear message” to both government and the opposition that they wanted climate action.
“We found that this (2035) target will continue to see economic growth for Australia, continue to see falls in emissions, and continue to see cost-of-living improvements in things like electricity,” he told ABC Radio.
“There’s an environmental imperative to do this and there is also an economic opportunity, if we grab it, to set us up for a more prosperous future.”
Australia first made its commitment to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 under the coalition government led by former prime minister Scott Morrison in 2021.
The coalition remains divided over whether to dump the climate target, as members from both the Liberals and Nationals call for it to be scrapped in a major test of Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s leadership.
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