A Queensland farmer has carved a giant message to G20 leaders in one of his paddocks, telling them to prioritise climate change action.



Rob McCreath ploughed “Go solar” on his land after Brisbane airport rejected a billboard calling for climate change to be added to the G20 agenda.

He hopes world leaders will see his message and pressure the Australian government to do more about emissions and renewable energy.

“Australia is now well into raging drought,” he said on Thursday. “I can’t believe we don’t make better use of our solar resources.”

Climate change is not on the official agenda for the G20 summit in Brisbane next week, although energy efficiency will be discussed.

McCreath said other developed countries, such as Germany, appreciated the gravity of climate change and were promoting solar energy.

He said he hoped the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, would ask Tony Abbott in Brisbane why Australia couldn’t follow the German lead and go solar.

The display on McCreath’s property in Felton, near Toowoomba, took about four hours to create. “It didn’t take all that long to plough but it took me quite a long time to mark out the letters because I didn’t want to get the spelling wrong,” he said.

McCreath could not guarantee leaders would see his work and it was not clear whether their planes would fly over it. “We’ve all got to do what we can, as individuals,” he said.