26 April 2023

Founder and President Richard Mathews argues in this piece for a comprehensive partnership between Australia and Indonesia on climate and energy. Richard points out the synergies available between the countries on renewable energy potential and the depth and breadth of our bilateral relationship, which provides a solid basis for both countries to benefit from closer cooperation on a common global threat.

12 December 2022

Alan March published an opinion piece in the Canberra Times on 12 December calling for a new focus for the Australian aid program on climate finance and climate adaptation. Alan argues that a climate-focused aid program will be an asset rather than a cost to Australia, and that we can leverage our advantages in disaster response and recovery, and in our strong regional relationships to deliver an aid program that benefits Australia, our development partners and the planet. (Here is a downloaded copy).

9 December 2022

Diplomats for Climate Action Now, along with Jubilee Australia, 350.org, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Climate Action Network Australia, wrote to Senator The Hon Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism, urging him to sign the Glasgow Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition.

9 November 2022

Janaline attended the Stripe Climate Leaders' Lunch in Sydney to hear Stripe's head of climate talk about how Stripe is trying to create a market for permanent carbon drawdown. It was a great opportunity to meet people working on climate from the private sector, with a range of representatives from tech start-ups growing cultured meat to large companies such as Qantas. Great to get connected.

26 October 2022

The Canberra Times published an article today by Janaline Oh on three things the Albanese government can do to reclaim a leadership role on global climate action. The first, signing the Global Methane Pledge, has already been announced. The second is to join the Glasgow Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition, which would involve stopping public finance for overseas fossil fuel projects. The third is to commit a substantial increase in climate finance for developing countries, both to assist them in the transition to clean energy and to help them to adapt to the already devastating effects of climate change.

6 October 2022

Janaline Oh spoke at the Better Futures Forum on 6 October on seizing opportunities in a global green economy. Here are her speaking notes.

2 September 2022

The Canberra Times published an article by one of our members today entitled: "Australia's export job opportunities are in the global green economy". In this article, Janaline Oh describes the huge competitive advantage Australia has in energy intensive manufacturing for export, due to our abundant, cheap renewable energy. Janaline notes that high labour costs, high energy costs and high transport costs have historically focused Australia's trade strategy on exporting large quantities of raw material. She argues that while Australia's labour costs remain relatively high, our workers are also highly productive and Australia's future no longer involves high energy costs: it can produce abundant and cheap renewable energy.   She urges the government to accelerate the energy transition, and turn Australia into a clean energy export manufacturing powerhouse.

9 June 2022

The Fiji Times today published an article by Janaline Oh of Diplomats for Climate Action Now and Mahendra Kumar of Pacific Elders Voice entitled “PIF 2022: Opportunity to invigorate climate change action”, which proposes some additional steps the Albanese government can take in both domestic and international climate policy to restore its reputation in the Pacific islands region.

27 June 2022

Diplomats for Climate Action Now member Peter Hooton (former High Commissioner to Solomon Islands) published an article in the Lowy Interpreter titled: "Pacific labour mobility and the existential threat of climate change". In this article Peter writes that "the new Australian Labor government’s commitment to listen more closely to its island neighbours is welcome, as are its Pacific labour mobility initiatives". He argues that in addition to the Pacific Engagement Visa (capped at 3,000 visas annually) Australia should consider offering a new climate change quota beyond this cap for particularly vulnerable Pacific island states. This would signal a serious commitment to jointly addressing the challenges of climate change, especially for those states whose existence is threatened by rising sea levels. This idea builds on our Climate-Focused Foreign Policy for Australia, where we argued that the new Australian government should "commit to offering vulnerable Pacific Island nations a safe-refuge resettlement program for affected populations if their homelands become no longer habitable due to sea-level rise or other effects of climate change." This will be a difficult debate for Australia, but a debate that we need to have.