Planet Erland

Australia and the UK agreed that an effective response to climate change underpins our long-term security as well as our prosperity. Recent extreme weather events around the world, including in Australia, vividly illustrate the threat we can expect climate change to pose. While individual weather events can rarely be linked with certainty to climate change, climate change models tell us that extreme weather events, including floods, droughts and heat waves, are likely to become more common as the world warms.

Climate change should be considered a key risk to both countries’ economies, societies and environments and its long-term implications should be considered a fundamental national security challenge.

Both countries welcomed the conclusion of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties in Cancun, which puts the world on the path towards a legally binding global deal to tackle climate change under the UN.

Australia and the UK are committed to working closely together to establish and deliver the new mechanisms, approaches and agreements realised in Cancun and to help build international consensus to build on the success of Cancun at COP17 in Durban; and to continue the progress towards a legally binding climate change deal.

However, action on climate change is urgent and cannot wait for the signature of an international treaty. The governments of Australia and the UK are therefore committed to promoting swift action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions both at home and abroad.