21st April 2022

Another important article titled Solomons security pact: Sogavare, China and Australia, written by our member Peter Hooton (former High Commissioner to Solomon Islands) was published today in the Lowy Interpreter. Peter emphasises that Australia's greatest foreign policy failure has actually been its failure to address climate change, which poses the gravest single threat to the future viability of Pacific island countries as sovereign states.

12th April 2022

We and four other groups of current and former professionals sent a joint open letter to the incoming Prime Minister of Australia calling on the incoming government to recognise climate change as an existential threat requiring immediate national mobilisation. You can read the letter here.

24th March 2022

An article entitled "Climate change in the Pacific - what Australia needs to do" by Dip4CAN member Peter Hooton, was published in the Lowy Interpreter. This article highlights that Pacific states have been frustrated and disappointed by Australia’s failure to address the issue which poses the gravest single threat to their future viability as sovereign states. Peter's article proposes Australia adopt a new climate diplomacy for the Pacific which recognises this threat and includes real and deep cuts to Australia’s emissions in the medium (2030) and longer (2050) terms; increases Australia's mitigation and adaptation support across the Pacific; and commits to assisting vulnerable Pacific island populations with viable resettlement options that are acceptable to them, if their homelands were to become uninhabitable.

23rd March 2022

On 31 October 2021 we sent a second letter to the PM, copied to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor, in which we expressed our serious concerns that the government had not committed to stronger emissions cuts by 2030 in advance of COP26. We also urged the government to “make rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions before 2030, matching and even beating the commitments made by our OECD partners”. Last week - 23rd March 2022 - we received a reply from an official in the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on behalf of the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor. This reply arrived nearly FIVE MONTHS after our letter was sent. You can read the reply here.

February 2022

Richard Mathews, Convenor of Diplomats for Climate Action Now, gave a speech to The Australian Institute for International Affairs NSW branch on 15 Feb 2022, titled: Why Australia Should be a Global Leader in Climate Action (see text of the speech here).

January 2022

Have you ever wondered what all the talk is about "climate finance"? It was a big topic at the November COP26 meeting in Glasgow, and it seems some new decisions were made on the issue, or old ones reconfirmed. It's all about how rich, developed nations have an obligation to support the costs of climate adaptation and mitigation for poorer, developing nations, right? If you would like an easy to read, clear and concise explanation of the state of play regarding "climate finance", start off the New Year with this article by Diplomats for Climate Action Now member, Dr Ruth Adler: https://ilareporter.org.au/2022/01/the-glasgow-climate-change-conference-what-next-for-climate-finance-ruth-adler/

14 December 2021

"Why diplomats are worried about climate change"

This article, by the convenor of Diplomats for Climate Action Now, was published in the Canberra Times today.  Richard Mathews explains that our group of former diplomats are concerned that Australia's low level of ambition on climate change is becoming an obstacle in how we pursue our interests around the world. Once Australia was seen as a leading activist nation in world affairs, a model global citizen in areas as diverse as the Law of the Sea and depletion of the ozone layer. Now the world sees us as a "climate laggard".