Australia has reaffirmed its commitment to coal – and its unwavering support for the United States – by appearing at a US government-run event promoting the use of fossil fuels at the United Nations climate talks in Poland.

Australia was the only country apart from the host represented at the event, entitled “US innovative technologies spur economic dynamism”, designed to “showcase ways to use fossil fuels as cleanly and efficiently as possible, as well as the use of emission-free nuclear energy”.

Its panel discussion was disrupted for several minutes by dozens of protesters who stood up suddenly during speeches, unfurling a banner reading “Keep it in the ground” while singing and chanting “Shame on you”.

Patrick Suckling, Australia’s ambassador for the environment, and the head of the country’s negotiating delegation at the climate talks, spoke on the panel. His nameplate bore a US flag.

“Actions speak loudly,” he said, “and as we’ve been hearing, the United States has been a powerhouse … in different approaches to energy security while seeking emissions reductions.

“Australia has a technology-neutral approach to emissions reduction. It’s important that we do so, we need to pull every lever to reduce emissions. We need to be open to innovation and new technologies providing multiple pathways for energy security and emissions reductions.”

Suckling said Australia would continue to invest in low-emissions innovations, including doubling its innovation investment by 2020. But he said carbon capture and storage – “a proven technology” – was important in any model for emissions reduction, and that the technology had broad applications across industries.

But Simon Bradshaw, Oxfam Australia’s climate change policy adviser, said it was “extremely disappointing” to see Australia line up behind the US in pushing a pro-coal ideas.

“It is a slap in the face of our Pacific island neighbours, for whom bringing an end to the fossil fuel era is matter of survival, and who are working with determination to catalyse stronger international efforts to confront the climate crisis. And it is firmly against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of Australians.”

Bradshaw said continuing to use coal was not only uneconomic, but would “be measured in more lives lost, entrenched poverty, rising global hunger, and more people displaced from their land and homes”.

He said the advice of the IPCC showed emphatically there was no space for new coal and that Australia’s position on coal was isolating it from the rest of the world.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 48 countries most acutely affected by climate change, has committed to achieving 100% renewable energy production by the middle of the century at the latest. Other developed countries, including the UK, France, Canada and New Zealand, have committed to phasing out coal power by 2030.

Wells Griffith, a Trump administration adviser speaking alongside Suckling on the panel, said the US would continue extracting fossil fuels, and warned against “alarmism” about climate change.

“We strongly believe that no country should have to sacrifice their economic prosperity or energy security in pursuit of environmental sustainability,” he said.

But the panel’s premise – that fossil fuels can be made “clean” through innovation – stands at odds with the recommendations of climate scientists who argue that countries should transition to renewable energy sources as soon as possible or risk catastrophic levels of global warming by the end of the century.

Also at the UN climate talks in Poland, two new reports have cast Australia as a global laggard on addressing climate change.

The Climate Change Performance Index, compiled by the Climate Action Network, ranked Australia 55 out of 60 countries for its actions on climate change. The index ranks countries according to their climate policies, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Sweden and Morocco are the leading countries on the list, though no nation is clearly on a below-2 degrees pathway. India, ranked 11, and China, ranked 33, both improved their rankings significantly, having significantly increased their use of renewable energy. The US and Saudi Arabia are 59th and 60th respectively on the list.

“Australia is at the bottom of the class when it comes to climate policy performance,” said Richie Merzian, climate and energy program director at the Australia Institute. “After four years of rising emissions, and a relative absence of climate policy, it is no surprise.”

Merzian said the government was “openly and unapologetically defending the coal industry” despite overwhelming scientific consensus that rapid decarbonisation needed to occur worldwide.

Separately, the Climate Action Tracker has updated its assessment of Australia’s efforts, saying the country’s “climate policy has further deteriorated in the past year, as it focuses on propping up the coal industry and ditches efforts to reduce emissions”.

“The Australian government has turned its back on global climate action by dismissing the findings of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C and announcing it would no longer provide funds to the Green Climate Fund,” the assessment said.

Emissions from fossil fuels and industry have been increasing by about 2% a year since 2014 in Australia. The assessment argues that Australia’s Paris agreement target was “insufficient” but Australia still won’t meet it.

“While the federal government continues to repeatedly state that Australia is on track to meet its 2030 target “in a canter” the Climate Action Tracker is not aware of any scientific basis, published by any analyst or government agency, to support this. ”

Associated Press contributed to this report



