SYDNEY, Thursday 10 April 2025 — In response to comments by Shadow Energy Minister Ted O’Brien that the Coalition could leave the Paris Agreement if elected, David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:
“Abandoning the Paris Agreement is a terrible idea, straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook, that would harm our economy, our global standing, and our relationship with our Pacific neighbours.
Australia is the world’s third-largest fossil fuel exporter, and a major polluter with an outsized responsibility to cut our emissions at emergency speed and scale. As the cost of back-to-back climate disasters grows, we are also paying a heavy price for climate change.
Shrinking our climate targets and walking away from international cooperation on reducing emissions and climate finance will harm our economy as the world moves to decarbonise and alienate our Pacific neighbours on the frontlines of climate change. It would not be in our national interest to leave the Paris Agreement.
It is shocking that the Coalition is even entertaining the possibility of abandoning this important global climate accord, which is our best chance at averting catastrophic climate change. Peter Dutton should distance his party from this Trumpian tactic and commit to keeping Australia in the Paris Agreement in no uncertain terms.”
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For more information or interviews contact Vai Shah on 0452 290 082 or [email protected] 0452 290 082
