00:01It was very explicit that this conference is not a negotiation, it's not a consensus
00:06process, and so there are certain benefits that that affords the process.
00:11And it really is a very exciting opportunity for countries that want the transition, so
00:16coalitions of the willing, to come together and develop solutions and actions to make
00:22progress.
00:23So, what Colombia is doing this time is actually very special.
00:28It's a bit of a different model.
00:29It's inviting very actively civil society, academia, NGOs, workers' unions, First Nations
00:37communities to provide input into the process.
00:41So in the coming two days we'll have governments making these discussions hopefully with these
00:47inputs.
00:47You've been there for a few days already, so tell me what the atmosphere is like.
00:52Is there much hope or is there much less of an optimism of the future without fossil fuels?
01:01Yes.
01:02Well, so the atmosphere here I think is built a lot on goodwill.
01:08Everyone here is so passionate about this being such an important issue.
01:13Everyone is dedicating their time and energy.
01:15A lot of a lot of it is volunteered.
01:18And it really is because there is hope that this can happen.
01:23And so, you know, it's generally a positive atmosphere, but of course everyone recognizes just how
01:31important it is to get it right.
01:32Yeah.
01:33It's a rare mix of attendees though, isn't it?
01:35I mean, we're seeing some major oil, gas and coal exporters, including Australia as well.
01:41We're also seeing consumers and vulnerable nations attend the summit.
01:45What's missing though seems to be the major fossil fuel producers, you know, like the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China,
01:52India as well.
01:53So how much can this summit realistically achieve without their participation?
01:59Well, as I said before, this is about the coalition of the willing, wanting to come together and develop ideas
02:09to make progress.
02:11And this is already 56 countries.
02:14And so this is their opportunity to discuss, agree on, you know, actions to take together without, you know, other
02:23countries that might seek to slow down the process.
02:25So there's actually some benefits to having, you know, just those who really want it to work together.
02:32And this is a great platform to provide that.
02:35Well, one of the aims of the summit, of course, is to help countries break their economic dependence on fossil
02:40fuels, of course, you know.
02:42But then you've got the attending producers like Canada, Brazil, Australia.
02:47They have their national budgets that depend on the export of these fossil fuels.
02:52Practically, what would transitioning look like?
02:56Yeah, and it's actually just such an important reason why these countries should really be part of it, because this
03:03transition is going to impact each of these countries quite significantly.
03:07We want to be part of shaping what that looks like.
03:10So the overcoming economic dependence is actually a key pillar of the conference.
03:19And so being part of essentially looking into new future industries that are built on clean energy is actually a
03:29fantastic opportunity for countries like Australia.
03:32We have so much renewable energy that we can really leverage to build green export industries like the green iron
03:39and green ammonia and things like that.
03:41So we can find many opportunities to do this.
03:44How do you see the outcome of this inaugural summit, you know, feeding into or perhaps even shaping the direction
03:52of COP 31 negotiations of which Australia will be presiding over next year?
03:58Right.
03:59Right. So, of course, this is a very important topic for climate policy, climate discussions.
04:07And this conference is to provide input into the roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels.
04:14And this academic dialogue plus the people summit is really about providing action recommendations for government to consider that can
04:24that can be taken now and also to inform strategies for them to take into COP 31.
04:28So things like electrification of energy and industry sectors and last night there were there was an announcement of a
04:36new science panel for global energy transition and this group will be developing further research and modeling to inform these
04:44processes.
04:44So this conference represents a part of a greater effort to provide the knowledge base to hear from and to
04:52hear from the voices that really need to be part of the transition.
04:55Thank you very much, Aneta Zhu, their senior researcher with the Center for Climate and Energy Policy from the ANU.
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