PLEA Network

13 December 2019, Renew Economy, Taylor flies out of Madrid, leaving Kyoto carryover battle unresolved. Federal energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor has left Madrid following his address to the COP25 climate change talks, leaving Australia’s diplomatic corps to continue the fight for Australia’s Kyoto accounting loophole. Much is at stake for the Morrison government, as it plans to rely on the accounting loophole to represent almost all of the federal government’s actions towards meeting its 2030 emissions reduction target. If the loophole is successfully blocked by other countries, it will blow a 411 million tonne hole in Australia’s emissions budget. Taylor will primarily rely on the Ambassador for the Environment, Jamie Isbister, who is attending the UN climate talks in that role for the first time. Isbister will be backed by a diminished team of Australian diplomats to ensure Australia has access to carryover Kyoto units, which will likely be the Australian delegation’s core priority for the remainder of the talks, that are expected to run into the weekend. New Zealand and South Africa have been called in to mediate an outcome on the issue, with New Zealand climate change minister James Shaw, a Green, telling the conference that he hopes to have a propose solution by Friday evening Australian time. Shaw said that parties had shown agreement to both a “mutually acceptable outcome” as well as a “commitment to environmental integrity”, suggesting a compromise may be in the works. The issue of the Kyoto carryover has emerged as one of the key sticking points at the talks and there is also growing speculation that a resolution may not be reached in Madrid, if countries like Australia continue to hold out for their preferred position. Read more here