New York Times full-page advert brutally slams Australia over climate change inaction
A leading Australian think tank has taken out a full-page ad in the naming and shaming Australia as a major fossil fuel producer that contributes to catastrophic . The Australia Institute took out the 'open letter' ad in Tuesday's edition of the prestigious paper and it appeared under the heading: 'Australia Must Accelerate Climate Action, Not Climate Annihilation'. In the advertisement's main block of text it stated Australia would getting up at Wednesday's Climate Ambitions Summit in New York and 'telling the world how much action it is taking on climate change'. Foreign Minister will be representing Australia at the summit with the ad scornfully dismissing her government's credibility on climate action. 'The United Nations Secretary General, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), International Energy Agency (IEA), and scientists from all over the world have made it clear there is no room for new gas, coal and oil projects in the global carbon budget,' the ad reads. 'In this - the 'decisive decade' for climate -there are over 100 new coal and gas projects in development in Australia according to official data. 'If all these projects proceed, research by the Australia Institute shows they would add a further 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmosphere every year - roughly the equivalent emissions of the entire Russian Federation, the world's fourth-largest polluter. 'Accelerating the pace and scale of climate action means an end to new fossil fuel approvals and subsidies. 'As the world's third largest exporter of fossil fuels, Australia has a special responsibility to stop fueling the increase in global emissions caused by Australian fossil fuel production, both here and overseas. 'We call on the Australian Government to follow the advice of the United Nations, the IEA and the IPCC and prevent any further new fossil fuel developments in Australia.' The bottom two thirds of the page display the signatures of over 220 scientists and other environmental experts and campaigners backing the call. Signatories include leading US climate scientists Bill McKibben and Michael Mann along with former Australian Greens leader Christine Milne, Australian climate scientist Bill Hare and Nobel Prize winning Australian immunologist Peter Doherty. In a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) Australian Institute Climate & Energy Program Director Polly Hemming showed off the ad in a newspaper with the Manhattan skyline behind her. 'Even though the IEA, UNFCCC and UN Secretary-General have all declared that new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with keeping global temperatures below 1.5C, the new Australian Government has already approved four new coal mines and there are 110 more gas and coal mines in the pipeline, Ms Hemming said in a press release. 'If Australia succeeds in its fossil fuel expansion plans, the other nations of the world will fail in their efforts to prevent dangerous climate change.' 'Australia is already the world's third largest fossil fuel exporter, behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia. 'But despite the dire warnings from the world's scientists and the clear language from the UN Secretary-General, the Australian Government is not only approving new fossil fuel projects, it is subsidising them and fighting in court to smooth their path.' She also tweeted that Senator Wong will be presenting to the UN summit while 'back in Australia the environment minister is in court this week fighting for the right to ignore the link between climate change and fossil fuels when approving coal mines'. Ms Hemming tweeted an article by Australia Institute researcher Rod Campbell that stated Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek would in the Federal Court fighting to overturn a challenge by environmental groups to 19 fossil fuel projects. 'Australia's Environment Minister is in court opposing environment groups and on the side of coal companies, arguing to approve new coal projects despite their climate impacts,' Mr Campbell wrote. 'Concurrently, Australia's Foreign Minister will try to convince the world that Australia takes climate change seriously. 'It would be funny if it were not so serious.'