Australia Submits more Ambitious 2030 Emissions Target to UN

Despite being ravaged by floods, fires, and droughts, Australia has long been seen as a laggard on climate action Muhammad FAROOQ AFP
Despite being ravaged by floods, fires, and droughts, Australia has long been seen as a laggard on climate action Muhammad FAROOQ AFP
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Australia Submits more Ambitious 2030 Emissions Target to UN

Despite being ravaged by floods, fires, and droughts, Australia has long been seen as a laggard on climate action Muhammad FAROOQ AFP
Despite being ravaged by floods, fires, and droughts, Australia has long been seen as a laggard on climate action Muhammad FAROOQ AFP

Australia's new center-left government submitted more ambitious emissions targets to the United Nations Thursday, seeking to end a decade of foot-dragging on climate change.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised the country's 2030 emissions reduction target to 43 percent, up from a more modest previous target of 26-28 percent, AFP said.

The new goal "sets Australia up for a prosperous future, a future powered by cleaner, cheaper energy," Albanese said.

Despite being ravaged by floods, fires and droughts, Australia has long been seen as a laggard on climate action.

The vast continent-country is replete with fossil fuel deposits and is one of the world's top exporters of coal and gas.

Coal still plays a key role in domestic electricity production.

In 2022, MIT ranked Australia 52nd of 76 nations on its Green Future Index, which rates how much countries are shifting towards an environmentally sustainable economy.

- The 'climate wars' -But Albanese made emissions cuts a centerpiece of his recent election campaign and pledged to "end the climate wars" that led to decades of policy stasis.

Albanese sought to frame the decision as an economic boon: "What business has been crying out for is investment certainty," he said.

The Business Council of Australia welcomed the raised targets, saying they "should be a line in the sand."

"Australia can't afford to stall progress again because failure will see Australians miss out on new opportunities, new industries and better jobs," the council's chief executive Jennifer Westacott said.

- 'Seize the opportunity' -Albanese said Thursday that world leaders had "all welcomed Australia's changed position" on climate action during his conversations with them since taking power last month.

The issue of emissions reduction and fossil fuel exports was a key point of tension between Australia's previous government and Pacific leaders, who have labelled climate change the greatest threat to their region.

Albanese tried to sidestep criticism that higher targets could harm Australian jobs saying he wanted to "seize the opportunity that is there from acting on climate change".

The new targets would give business the certainty it needed to "invest over a longer time frame than the political cycle of three years," he said.

But he has so far refused to set a deadline for phasing out coal, in line with other rich countries.

Even before the announcement, Australia's fossil fuel industry was in flux with many major companies seeking to decarbonize their operations.

On Wednesday, global miner BHP announced it had been unable to find a buyer for its coal mines in the Australian state of New South Wales and would instead close the project by 2030.

The news came just a day after fossil fuel giant BP announced it would take out a 40.5 per cent stake in a renewables project in Australia, billed as the largest power station on earth.

Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, BP's executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy, said the company believed that "Australia has the potential to be a powerhouse in the global energy transition".



Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
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Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)

The Philippines ordered evacuations Wednesday ahead of Typhoon Usagi's arrival, as the UN's disaster office sought $32.9 million in aid for the country after recent storms killed more than 150 people.

The national weather service said Usagi -- the archipelago's fifth major storm in three weeks -- would likely make landfall Thursday in Cagayan province on the northeast tip of main island Luzon.

Provincial civil defense chief Rueli Rapsing said mayors had been ordered to evacuate residents in vulnerable areas, by force if necessary, as the 120 kilometers (75 miles) an hour typhoon bears down on the country.

"Under (emergency protocols), all the mayors must implement the forced evacuation, especially for susceptible areas," he told AFP, adding as many as 40,000 people in the province lived in hazard-prone areas.

The area is set to be soaked in "intense to torrential" rain on Thursday and Friday, which can trigger floods and landslides with the ground still sodden from recent downpours, state weather forecaster Christopher Perez told reporters.

He urged residents of coastal areas to move inland due to the threat of storm surges and giant coastal waves up to three meters (nine feet) high, with shipping also facing the peril of 8–10-meter waves.

A sixth tropical storm, Man-yi, is expected to strengthen into a typhoon before hitting the center of the country as early as Friday, Perez said.

With more than 700,000 people forced out of their homes, the successive storms have taken a toll on the resources of both the government and local households, the UN said late Tuesday.

About 210,000 of those most affected by recent flooding need support for "critical lifesaving and protection efforts over the next three months", the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

"Typhoons are overlapping. As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again," UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said.

"In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted."

The initiative "will help us mobilize the capacities and resources of the humanitarian community to better support government institutions at national, regional and local levels," Gonzalez added.

More than 28,000 people displaced by recent storms are still living in evacuation centers operated by local governments, the country's civil defense office said in its latest tally.

Government crews were still working to restore downed power and communication lines and clearing debris from roads.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.