Chris Bowen to lobby Saudi Arabia and other petrostates ahead of Cop31

Chris Bowen, Australia’s climate change and energy minister and the appointed “president of negotiations” for Cop31, said he will use his role to lobby Saudi Arabia and other petrostates to stop resisting progress at UN climate summits, Guardian Australia reported. Bowen told Guardian Australia a pre-summit focus would be talking to countries “with whom we don’t traditionally agree”, naming Saudi Arabia and stressing “engagement, engagement, engagement”.

His comments followed a direct appeal from former US secretary of state John Kerry for Australia to push big emitters, including China, Russia, the US and India, to develop a roadmap to end the fossil fuel era. Bowen said Australia’s status as a major exporter of fossil fuels gives it “credibility” in lobbying petrostates.

The Cop30 summit in Brazil produced a deal that omitted direct mention of fossil fuels after opposition from Saudi Arabia and its allies, though more than 80 countries, including Australia, signed a separate Belém declaration committing to work towards a “just, orderly and equitable” phasing out of fossil fuels.

Bowen said he wants Cop31 to deliver a “meaningful step forward” from the 2023 Dubai summit, where nations agreed for the first time to start phasing out fossil fuels.

Key Topics

World, Chris Bowen, Saudi Arabia, Belém Declaration, Fossil Fuels, Australia