---
title: Australian government caught in coal cover-up
description: Australia lobbied for the rejection of findings outlining the need for rapid global coal phase out from the next major report from the UN’s IPCC.
---
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# Australian government caught in coal cover-up
Friday, 22 October 2021
The Morrison Government actively lobbied for the rejection of findings outlining the need for rapid global coal phase out from the next major report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), revealed in documents leaked to Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigative platform.
This leak comes days after the government rejected setting a stronger 2030 emission reduction target in the lead up to the COP26 climate summit. Meanwhile, the Nationals have finalised their list of demands for supporting a 2050 net-zero target, which they will present to Scott Morrison before he jets off for the G20 in Rome and the COP26 talks in Glasgow at the end of next week.
More than 150 people have died in flooding across India and Nepal in recent days, as unseasonably heavy late monsoon rains triggered flash floods, destroyed homes, crops and infrastructure, and left thousands stranded.
[Australia sought to weaken UN climate report on need to close coal-fired power stations, leak suggests](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/21/australia-opposed-climate-report-finding-that-coal-fired-power-stations-should-close-leak-suggests)
Australia pushed back against a finding in a major climate report that fossil fuel power stations be urgently phased out, and requested the country be removed from a list of the world’s leading producers and consumers of coal, Greenpeace has said citing leaked documents.
[Nationals' demands for Liberals over climate change policy finalised, taken to Prime Minister Scott Morrison](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-21/nationals-demands-for-liberals-over-climate-target/100558788)
The Nationals have finalised their list of demands of the Prime Minister, which will determine whether they can support a mid-century target of net-zero carbon emissions. The Nationals party room will meet again before Scott Morrison jets off for the G20 in Rome and the COP26 talks in Scotland at the end of next week.
[Flooding triggers landslides in Nepal and India, killing at least 150 people and washing away homes](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-22/india-nepal-deadly-floods/100558832)
More than 150 people have died in flooding across India and Nepal in recent days, as heavy late monsoon rains triggered flash floods, destroyed homes, crops and infrastructure and left thousands stranded.
[Morrison refuses to release net zero modelling, as Australia outed for fudging climate report](https://reneweconomy.com.au/morrison-refuses-to-release-net-zero-modelling-as-australia-outed-for-fudging-climate-report/)
The Morrison government has defied a Senate order to release modelling produced as part of a possible commitment to a net zero target, as the Australian government is outed for trying to meddle with the contents of an influential climate report.
[Barnaby Joyce’s push for rail extension to Gladstone would set off ‘carbon bomb’, activists claim](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/22/barnaby-joyces-push-for-rail-extension-to-gladstone-would-set-off-carbon-bomb-activists-claim)
The deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce’s push for a $3bn extension of the inland rail project to Gladstone would unlock a “carbon bomb” of nine new coalmines and an estimated 150m tonnes of carbon emissions a year, environmental groups claim.
[‘We have to be at the table’: Australia’s trade minister urges colleagues to back net zero to protect trade](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/22/we-have-to-be-at-the-table-australias-trade-minister-urges-colleagues-to-back-net-zero-to-protect-trade)
The trade minister, Dan Tehan, has urged his government colleagues to back net zero emissions by 2050, declaring “the world is moving to decarbonise” and Australia must be at the table to fend off “protectionist forces”.
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