Target: Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia
Goal: Do not abandon efforts to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
The world’s next major climate conference will be hosted by a nation still beholden to coal special interests. A major Australian state just approved the planet’s biggest expansion of coal mines: an initiative that could release hundreds of millions of tons of planet-heating emissions into the atmosphere. Since the signing of the landmark Paris Climate Accord, tens of millions of tons have resulted from Australia coal transfers to the other host nation of the climate conference, Turkey.
This disparity comes as more Australians than ever before are turning to renewable energy. An estimated one-third of homes have solar panels. And while other regions like the United Kingdom are scaling back planned production of electric vehicles, EVS are on the rise in Australia. Even the nation’s minister for climate change has declared that transitioning to renewable energy is in Australia’s economic and overall interest.
A campaign is under way to compel Australian leadership to put its money where its mouth is at the upcoming conference by supporting a coal and overall fossil fuel phaseout plan. Sign the petition below to support this effort.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Prime Minister Albanese,
“Amidst the biggest energy crisis in history, it is extraordinary that the Cop31 presidency continues to ignore the central issue of fossil fuels. Rather than leading the transition away, both countries are still expanding fossil fuels at extreme rates.” A spokesperson for global activist 350.org was not speaking out of turn with this claim. Australia is among the top coal exporters in the world, and officials recently approved – against the wishes of many of its citizenry – an even more forceful coal expansion.
Australian National University’s Carbon Impacts Tracker has laid out the consequences of this one project in stark and unequivocal terms: 15 million coral colonies lost, nearly a million people exposed to crushing heat, and hundreds of deaths. Meanwhile, Super El Nino and other climate-related disasters continue unabated. The last climate conference yielded promised discussions of a roadmap for fossil fuel phase-outs: a concept of a plan, if you will. Make this the year the roadmap gains form and begins construction.
Heed the words of your own climate change minister: “the age of fossil fuels will end.” Lead the world by ushering in a new and cleaner era. The time is now.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Zelch Csaba
