Just another game

Has Australia cleaned up its act on climate?

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to power last year promising the country would leave the climate "naughty corner".

"I want to join the global effort," Mr Albanese told the BBC, minutes after his victory speech.

The country is one of the world's biggest polluters per head of population, and it has failed to make any significant cuts to its core emissions despite signing up to global pledges.


This of course is the political game favoured by China - focus on emissions per head rather than per country. A way to point the finger at countries which cannot possibly make a significant difference whatever they do. Australia for example. The UK is another example.

In this game, a single person could be among the worst polluters in the world. One of those habitual private jet climate conference attendees for example.

Or maybe it could even be a large TV broadcaster which sends enormous numbers of people to cover major international sporting events.