Australia’s Cop31 chief negotiator plans to lobby petrostates on fossil fuel phaseout

Exclusive: Chris Bowen says key to next UN climate summit will be ‘engagement, engagement, engagement’ with countries such as Saudi ArabiaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastChris Bowen wants to use his stint as the world’s chief climate negotiator to lobby Saudi Arabia and others to stop resisting progress at UN summits, heeding calls for a “hard-nosed” approach in dealing with big emitters obstructing the transition.Appointed “president of negotiations” for Cop31 under the deal that handed Turkey hosting rights for the conference, Australia’s climate change and energy minister has told Guardian Australia a focus ahead of the summit would be talking to countries “with whom we don’t traditionally agree”. Continue reading...