At COP26, Australia highlights a gas company and “shocks” an association of fire victims

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“I am so shocked, as a survivor of the fires, to see that at a conference on the climate crisis my government is giving a huge place to a fossil fuel company.” Tuesday, November 2 in Glasgow (Scotland), Jo Dodds, Australian president of the association Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action (BSCA, in French “The survivors of brush fires for climate action”), decided to visit the pavilion of his country, in the building housing the COP26 negotiations.

Arriving in front of the large stand streaked with yellow and green, she discovered a large blue block with a white inscription: “Carbon capture and storage” through “Santos”. Above, a showcase demonstrated the “Moomba” project, which is due to start in 2024 in South Australia.

“The Australian government has chosen to promote this fossil fuel company rather than the Australian people, who are victimized by the activities of the same company.”, reacts to franceinfo Jo Dodds. Because among the largest fossil and cement companies in the country, Santos is the tenth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, responsible for global warming. In 2018, the company emitted 17.72 million tonnes of CO2eq., According to a report from the University of New South Wales (PDF, in English).

“It sends the message to me and the thousands of others affected by the climate crisis that our government does not care enough for Australians to say no to such a venture.”, still accuses Jo Dodds. In March 2018, this Tathra (New South Wales) resident saw her neighborhood go up in smoke. “There was a catastrophic fire, which started a few miles from my house.”

When she recalls this experience, her eyes still shine behind her red glasses. “I was on my way home and saw this column of smoke rising. Listening to the weather warnings, I understood that it was heading towards my house.”, she says. Held at a distance, she watched the flames gain ground for four hours. “Then at five o’clock the wind stopped. The fire was on my property, but my house was saved.” Dozens of homes were not so lucky.

“The inhabitants did not even have time to recover as we were already affected by another fire, in the middle of winter, then floods, then the ‘Black Summer’ fire …”

Jo Dodds, president of the BSCA association

to franceinfo

“I’ve lived in this region for twenty-one years. It wasn’t like this before! It’s all going to happen more frequently.”, worries Jo Dodds. These fires, fanned by high temperatures and strong winds, will indeed be “certainly” more frequent and more intense with a warmer climate, confirms the latest IPCC report. “People are paying for my government’s inaction”, she regrets.

Like her, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull criticized this place given to Santos: “Look at the Australian pavilion: you have a gas company apparently put forward at the insistence of the Energy Department, which thinks our energy policy should focus on gas combustion, when the main focus is actually on burning gas. ‘stop burning fossil fuels’, he said, as reported The Guardian.

The current head of government, much criticized for the weakness of the climate commitments of his country, the world’s largest exporter of coal, has however defended his strategy: “Technology will provide the answers for a low-carbon economy (…) and in a way that will not deprive our citizens, especially in developing countries, of their livelihoods or the chance to improve their living conditions “Scott Morrison told heads of state in Glasgow.

“As long as we don’t put the victims at the center of the conversation, that we don’t talk about the price of climate change, we are not making the right decisions”, argues Jo Dodds, on his way to the Australian pavilion. Wednesday, the window of Santos has been removed from the stand, but the activist still intends to stay nearby for the duration of the COP, in order to encourage the other states present to “claim accounts” to Australia. Asked by franceinfo, the Australian pavilion has not yet responded.


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