Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Lyn Morgain reacts to the Australian Government’s COP26 announcement on climate finance:
“The Australian Government’s lack of ambition at COP26 is gravely disappointing. Without a credible 2030 target, we have no way to prove our commitment to doing our fair share to limit catastrophic warming. And critically, our contributions to support our neighbours in the Pacific and other hard-hit nations through climate finance are still inadequate.
“While the increase to $2 billion is welcome, it is effectively only a boost of $500 million from what has already been committed until 2025. For context, New Zealand, a much smaller economy, has committed to quadruple its climate finance to $1.2 billion over four years. Australia has the capability and responsibility to provide more support to meet the needs of Pacific Island nations in adapting to the impacts of climate change.
“Oxfam and our partners have called for the Australian Government to show its commitment to our Pacific friends by increasing its investment to $3 billion over five years. Even this was a very modest request as the Overseas Development Institute has estimated our fair share of the USD$100 billion target as USD$2.94 billion or about AUD$4 billion annually.
“Poll after poll indicates that Australians believe climate change is a priority issue requiring more ambition from our government. We can and must do better.”
