Thread by @David_Ritter

Today Australia was awarded the Fossil of the COP - a ‘prize’ given by a coalition of civil society orgs to the worst performing country throughout the #COP26 climate conference.
Here’s a recap of how @ScottMorrisonMP earned such a disappointing award:

The Morrison government’s failures began before #COP26, with its net zero ‘plan’ which did not meet the ambitions required for emissions cuts this decade, or include legislation or a mechanism to ever reach net zero. It was derided across the world:

https://twitter.com/David_Ritter/status/1454200170338349056

On the eve of #cop26 at the G20 leaders summit Morrison doubled down on his lacklustre approach and Australia was accused of blocking global progress and pushing back on phasing out fossil fuels:
reneweconomy.com.au/morrison-fumbl…

Things started poorly for Morrison at COP26 - with the Australian pavillion universally panned for platforming giant fossil fuel polluter Santos and spruiking unproven CCS tech rather than showcasing genuine clean energy projects:
sbs.com.au/news/australia…

The focus on fantasy technology, hope that someone else will do the work in the future and refusal to mandate any concrete goals or plans was a constant theme in all of Morrison and co’s offerings throughout #cop26:
abc.net.au/news/2021-11-0…

Morrison doubled down on his refusal to increase Australia’s short-term ambitions despite the need for deep emissions cuts this decade as a key #COP26 aim. Embarrassingly, Australia was the only advanced economy not to offer increased reductions:
theguardian.com/science/2021/o…

The biggest drivers of climate change are coal, gas & oil. A key aim for #COP26 was the global phase out of fossil fuels.
Along with championing Santos, Australia regused to sign on with 40 countries to pledge to quit coal.
abc.net.au/news/2021-11-0…

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas - 80 times worse than CO2 over a twenty year period. 100 countries, including key global allies like the US and the EU agreed to slash methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Morrison again refused to sign the pledge:
abc.net.au/news/2021-11-0…

Morrison also refused to join a pledge signed by the USA and twenty other major nations to phase out international financing for fossil fuel projects: washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/…

When this wasn’t enough, the Morrison government teamed up with Saudi Arabia to attempt to water down the final conference outcomes - lobbying to remove references to phasing out coal and the 1.5C target:
smh.com.au/world/europe/a…

A quick reminder - the folks at the Internaitonal Energy Agency, a conservative energy body, have noted all advanced economies must phase out coal by 2030 to keep 1.5C on track:
iea.org/reports/net-ze…

Morrison tried to wash his failures by boosting climate aid in the Pacific by $500m. Chump change compared to what is needed plus a @greenpeaceap report revealed a large portion of supposed climate aid has not been used to fund climate-related projects:
smh.com.au/environment/cl…

Back at home, Morrison has now gone on a publicity spree to try and distract from his dismal efforts at the global conference. Unfortunately for him, his failures and laggard approach have been platformed on the world stage:
theconversation.com/the-australian…

Rather than enacting any meaningful climate policy or post-COP planning, the Morrison government have been working to siphon clean energy funding into unproven carbon capture and storage projects:
theconversation.com/morrison-to-li…

Morrison then announced a new EV plan, offering no fuel efficiency standards, subsidies or rebates to incentivise change. The ‘strategy’ will result in less than 2% emissions reductions over the next 15 years:
theguardian.com/environment/20…

Australia could be a clean energy superpower and leader on the global stage. Unfortunately, @scottmorrisonmp’s zero-sum efforts mean this Fossil of the COP award is completely and wholly deserved.

A (hopeful) positive from #cop26 will be updated requirements for leaders to check in & increase ambitions each year - there is nothing (aside from vested interests and poor leadership) to stop Scott Morrison, or any future leader, committing to rapid clean energy transformation.