Interview with Sonya Feldhoff and Jules Schiller, ABC Radio Adelaide Breakfast

JULES SCHILLER: It's not only the 50th anniversary of the dismissal. It's the 10th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement and climate change talks are very much top of mind, not only for people in Australia, but especially for people in Adelaide, because overshadowing this COP is the fact that Adelaide has bid at Australia for the next COP, and we still don't know what the state of play is. Let's cross to Belém, which is a city in the north of Brazil. It's quite a way from Rio on the Atlantic side. Our highest-ranking official, I believe, joins us now. He's the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Josh Wilson, good morning, or should I say good afternoon to you, Josh Wilson?

JOSH WILSON: Yes, still early evening on Monday here in Brazil, but really good to be with you.

SCHILLER: Alright, so let's just cut straight to the chase. What's the state of play for Australia's bid for COP in Brazil at the moment?

WILSON: Well, we continue to put our best foot forward. We continue to make a strong case to host COP31 in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific, and to do so in Adelaide, we think that that's an incredibly compelling case. In the course of the leaders’ summit, part of the program on Thursday and Friday last week, a number of Pacific leaders spoke passionately and convincingly in saying that it was time for the world to come to our region and understand the existential threat that faces Pacific island nations, and also see the progress that Australia is making in terms of the renewable energy transition and our work to become a clean industry powerhouse. We think both of those things are really important, and to bring the world from here in Brazil, the green lungs of the Amazon, to the Blue Pacific continent we think is a compelling case, and we hope to have that resolved in our favour during the course of the next couple of weeks.

SONYA FELDHOFF: Well, almost at the end of day one of the COP30 conference. When are you expecting the decision to be announced about where COP31 will be? There's 11 days of this conference – is it at the beginning, at the end, when?

WILSON: It has to occur before the end of this COP, there has to be an outcome in terms of where the world will meet next time. We obviously are continuing to make our case and to deal constructively with Türkiye, which is the other country in the race, effectively, to try and resolve that issue. There's very, very strong support for Australia and the Pacific to host the COP in our part of the world and we're grateful for that support, but we have to just sort of step through the next few days and hopefully see a resolution, but one way or the other it will be decided before the end of this particular process.

SCHILLER: Türkiye, have you had talks with the representatives in Türkiye? Has the Prime Minister spoken to the Turkish or Turkish President Erdogan? I mean, what sort of communication are you having with them over there?

WILSON: That is happening government-to-government, and we've been active in that space all through 2025. There were some conversations and some engagement that happened around the UN General Assembly and we do that in the usual way, through the usual channels to try to reach a consensus outcome. That's how the COP process has always worked. Separately to that, we continue to make the case for a COP in the Pacific by talking to all of our global partners, and the Pacific island nations are doing the same.

FELDHOFF: Josh Wilson is the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy. He's with you here on 891ABC Radio Adelaide. Minister, when it comes to day one, what has been addressed on that day?

WILSON: It’s been a big opening day. There's always a lot of energy and colour and movement when COP gets going. There are thousands of people here and people come to be part of this, both nations, people from the private finance part of the world that want to see sustainable energy investments, people from the non-government and civil society sectors. But everyone is fundamentally drawn here by that big challenge, which is tackling dangerous climate change and making a transition to a clean energy system. So that's the essence of it on day one, a lot of that energy and focus as people participate in various meetings, various negotiations, country pavilion events. I mean, I've been part of a few of those. I've still got a few to go tonight.

SCHILLER: Are people in Brazil annoyed that this hasn't been resolved yet? We're reading that in the press in Australia, Josh Wilson.

WILSON: I don't think it's unfair to say that all of those who have an interest in the COP process and that global cooperative effort to tackle dangerous climate change would love to see this resolved ASAP. In times in the past, it would have been resolved by now, but there have been occasions when it's kind of gone close to the wire, but I do think people would like to see it resolved. And the majority of the feedback, almost all the feedback I've had is that people would like to see it come to Adelaide.

SCHILLER: Is it true, there was a headline in the Brazilian press, and this is no disrespect to you, that we're sending a B-team to Belém to put our case for COP, because we know our Premier's got a flexible ticket. We don't know if Anthony Albanese is there. Chris Bowen still isn't there. I mean, has that been a headline in Brazil, and is that what you're hearing?

WILSON: No. Look, I understand with these things, there's a sort of fair amount of drama, anticipation and suspense and people want to write stories, and that's all good. But, you know, I was in Azerbaijan in week one for the action agenda, part of the program last year, and then Minister Bowen came in the second week because that's when all of the negotiations reach the conclusion. That is standard practice. The kind of interaction between Australia and Türkiye has been going on throughout 2025 at a government-to-government level, through the usual channels. It's not something that would be conducted, as much as it might make for an interesting spy drama in the in the corridors of COP, it happens through the usual channels. People are free to find drama where they want to find it, but that's not an accurate way of representing the process, and it's certainly not an accurate way of representing Australia's effort. We have left no stone unturned, and nor have the Pacific in making what is a really persuasive case, and frankly, there's very, very strong support for that outcome but it has to occur on a consensus basis.

FELDHOFF: Ten years after the Paris Agreement, though, has the shine somewhat come off COP? Because, quite apart from Australia's involvement or otherwise there, we're also seeing a lessening of interest in other world leaders, and I don't know whether that's largely because Donald Trump, for one, is not very interested in COP. He wants to have very little to do with it, nor the Paris Agreement. Are other leaders around the world also off the burner in relation to this conference?

WILSON: No. The global community understands just how vital this effort is. It's the biggest challenge we face, and no country can do it alone. I was part of a dialog hosted by President Lula last week, at which Sir Keir Starmer attended and Emmanuel Macron. There are ministers and ambassadors and well-provisioned delegations from countries all over the planet who continue to come and be part of what is the premier mechanism for dealing with the biggest challenge that humanity faces in the 21st century and beyond. It is always heartening to be here and to have that sense of the vitality and the focus of the effort, and the way in which people from lots of different nations are making clear their interest in avoiding dangerous climate change, and their interest, their economic and social and environmental interest in moving to a more sustainable kind of economy.

SCHILLER: Are there discussions around hosting a joint COP31 with Türkiye?

WILSON: No, I mean a co-presidency wouldn't work, it hasn't occurred, and there's no real interest in that. The partnership between Australia and the Pacific would be a first, but it makes sense because we share a region, because we're part of the Blue Pacific continent, and some of the issues we want to highlight and share with the world are matters that we are we are tackling and working on together.

SCHILLER: Finally, do you agree with our premier that this process is kind of ridiculous, that it has to come down to this, that that there can't be a vote on this, and will this take the shine off future COPs if countries bid for it and they can't get any resolution in a realistic amount of time?

WILSON: I think it's fair to say that if this isn't resolved in a sensible way, that it will take some of the air out of the multilateral process around the climate COPs at a time when we can least afford that. Australia as a middle power has a strong interest in effective multilateralism and global cooperative efforts in lots of areas, obviously trade but certainly in climate. We hope and we're as optimistic as you can be considering the strength of support that there is for the bid we've made with the Pacific that it will be resolved in our favour. But we don't have the ability to control that by ourselves. We have to hope that the process ultimately will deliver that outcome.

SCHILLER: Josh Wilson, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy in Belém, Brazil. Thank you for your company.