EU tells Abbott it wants climate on G20 agenda

First it was the United States and President Barack Obama, now the Europe Union has urged conservative Liberal-National Prime Minister Tony Abbott to put climate change on the G20 agenda.

Mr Abbott, who some would say only pays lip service to the climate change argument, has made it clear from the beginning that he did not want to discuss climate change at the G20 meeting scheduled for later this year in the Queensland state capital, Brisbane.

AAP Newsagency reports Europe is unhappy with Australia’s decision to drop climate change from the G20 agenda and is lobbying the Liberal-National government to reconsider.

European Union officials have said Australia has become completely “disengaged” on climate change since Mr Abbott’s government was elected in September last year.

Mr Abbott has already come under strong pressure from the US and President Obama to include cimate change in the G20 agenda.

President Obama recently sent his G20 emissary, Caroline Atkinson, to Australia to enforce the view.

Ms Atkinson said then that “addressing climate change” was an important issue for leaders in addition to Australia’s priorities of promoting stronger economic growth and employment outcomes.

Similarly the EU is disappointed with Mr Abbott’s approach, saying Australia was considered an important climate change player under the former Labor government.

AAP reports one well-placed EU official has likened the change to “losing an ally”.

The EU has a long-running, if somewhat troubled, Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which under current legislation will be linked to Australia’s ETS when it reverts to a market based format in July 2015.

However, Mr Abbott has pledged to scrap the carbon price in favour of his Direct Action policy.

That plan is currently stalled having been rejected by the upper house Senate, which is controlled by Labor and the Australia Greens Party.

Europe is sceptical of Mr Abbott’s replacement plan.

“You have a huge amount of scientists and economists saying the Direct Action policy isn’t going to work,” the official, who did not want to be named, told AAP in the Belgian capital Brussels.

The well-placed official was particularly critical of Mr Abbott’s decision not to have climate change on the agenda when the leaders of the world’s 20 richest nations gather in Brisbane later this year.

Mr Abbott has said he doesn’t want the G20 agenda “cluttered” by topics that would take the focus from his top priority of economic growth.

“We’re not very happy about it,” the official said.

“This is an issue of global importance, and the G20 are the global players on this.”

The EU is using official channels to urge the government to reconsider its position.

Climate change has been on the G20 agenda at the most recent leaders meetings in France, Mexico and Russia.

The EU’s comments come just days after the latest United Nations  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which said the effects of climate change are being felt across the globe and some parts of the natural world may already be undergoing irreversible change.

Another EU official said it hoped the report encouraged Australia to change course.

“It was a very frightening report,” he told AAP.