From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

“… Mr Albanese said on Sunday (AEDT) it was “a good thing” and “a very positive sign that the world wants to get on with co-operating” …”

G20 declaration rebuking Trump ‘a good thing’, PM says

Anthony Albanese says a declaration rebuking Donald Trump is “a good thing”.

Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer
November 23, 2025 – 2:22PM

…

Despite the White House calling the G20 declaration “shameful”, Mr Albanese said on Sunday (AEDT) it was “a good thing” and “a very positive sign that the world wants to get on with co-operating”.

“It’s about what the world has committed to – the Paris Agreement and to action on climate change,” he told reporters ahead of his departure from Johannesburg. 

“Of course, Australia signed up to the Paris Agreement, under Tony Abbott, and signed up to net zero under Scott Morrison, and with Angus Taylor as the energy minister.

“There is overwhelming support for action on climate change.

“People are very conscious of the fact that the increase in extreme weather events, the impact of climate change, is here right now.

“The impact on this continent here in Africa, the impact in the Pacific of course, is something that we’re very conscious of as well.”

Pressed on potential backlash from Washington, Mr Albanese said the declaration was “signed up by all of the countries who are participating here”, highlighting the US’ absence.

“And Australia, as a sovereign state, makes decisions based upon our own national interest,” he said.

…Read more: https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/g20-declaration-rebuking-trump-a-good-thing-pm-says/news-story/1e935ff61f5a6c7f80d963a4209714a7

In spite of these expressions of unity and common purpose, nobody seems to be announcing significant new climate ambitions or targets. There was massive delinquency in submitting plans for concrete climate action.

New climate pledges only slightly lower dangerous global warming projections

Photo credit: Karsten Würth on Unsplash

• Under a third of Parties to Paris Agreement submitted new NDCs by 30 September 2025
• Global temperatures now predicted to reach 2.3-2.5°C, down from 2.6-2.8°C last year
• Lack of ambition and action means exceedance of 1.5°C is approaching

Nairobi, 4 November 2025 – A UN Environment Programme (UNEP) assessment of available new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement finds that the predicted global temperature rise over the course of this century has only slightly fallen, leaving the world heading for a serious escalation of climate risks and damages.

…Read more: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/new-climate-pledges-only-slightly-lower-dangerous-global-warming

Other commentators have noted the lack of COP30 progress on agreeing climate finance, or rather closing the “ambition gap”, which is activist speak for making good on all those wild climate finance promises.

UPDATES / PRESS RELEASE – Climate Action Network International

COP30 TAKES A HOPEFUL STEP TOWARDS JUSTICE, BUT DOES NOT GO FAR ENOUGH

22 November 2025

Climate Action Network International (CAN) welcomes the adoption of the Just Transition mechanism as one of the strongest rights-based outcomes in the history of the UN climate negotiations. At the same time, CAN warns that COP30 has produced weak outcomes in the very areas that are critical to ensuring justice for vulnerable and frontline communities. A dangerously weak outcome on Adaptation finance leaves little hope for impacted communities. 

Further adding to this injustice, governments did not deliver a concrete global response plan to address the ambition gap, and only agreed to have further processes to address this gap including on a just, equitable and orderly transition away from fossil fuels – while welcome, we need more than a process. We need implementation that includes finance to urgently address the root cause of the climate crisis. 

The real faultline running through COP30 was the refusal of developed countries to agree to the provision of finance across all areas. Their blocking of commitments on Adaptation finance, mitigation ambition, and the transition away from fossil fuels directly weakened the overall outcome. By once again failing to meet their climate-finance obligations – obligations grounded in historical responsibility – developed countries have undermined trust and fairness in the process and limited what this COP could have achieved.

…Read more: https://climatenetwork.org/2025/11/22/cop30-takes-a-hopeful-step-towards-justice-but-does-not-go-far-enough/

Sooo – they are all united in climate ambition, but nobody is moving forward. There are plenty of promises on the table, but nobody is receiving any money.

What are they waiting for? Why do they care so much about the USA’s position on climate change, when leaders like Albanese claim the entire rest of the world is ready to forge ahead with saving the world from climate change?

I think the answer to what they are waiting for is obvious. G20 nations excluding the USA are ready to “get on with co-operating”, just as soon as the USA gives them some money.