Australia and UK make pact to partner on 2050 net-zero climate goal

Advertisement

Advertise with us

APIA, Samoa (AP) — Australia and the United Kingdom have deepened ties by agreeing to collaborate on climate change and energy initiatives, aiming to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, while also reaffirming their mutual commitment to develop nuclear submarines for both nations under the AUKUS treaty.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/10/2024 (712 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

APIA, Samoa (AP) — Australia and the United Kingdom have deepened ties by agreeing to collaborate on climate change and energy initiatives, aiming to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, while also reaffirming their mutual commitment to develop nuclear submarines for both nations under the AUKUS treaty.

The Climate and Energy Partnership was announced after talks between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the Commonwealth leaders meeting in Samoa on Friday.

The partnership focuses on accelerating the development of renewable energy like green hydrogen and offshore wind by sharing technology and innovation.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese react during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese react during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

“This partnership will ensure we maximize the economic potential of the net zero transition, and build on our long-standing cooperation on international climate action and shared commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050,” Albanese said in a statement on Friday.

However, the statement was short on specifics for implementing the agreement, and is likely to do little to assuage the fears of several Pacific Island leaders, whose low-lying island nations are at high risk of rising sea levels, and on Thursday called on both countries to do more to tackle climate change.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), hosted by Samoan Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, is expected to conclude with a strong statement on climate change, ahead of the UN climate summit in November.

Security was another theme of the first meeting between the left-leaning leaders since Starmer’s election victory in July, with defense, the war in Ukraine, the AUKUS security partnership, and issues in the Indo-Pacific discussed according to the joint statement released by the Prime Ministers.

“Together, we’re delivering better futures for our two countries, whether that’s through protecting our national security with projects like AUKUS or delivering on our net zero commitments,” said Starmer in a statement Friday.

King Charles III, attending his first CHOGM as sovereign, is expected to address the gathering.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Scare up some social reconnection this fall

Maureen Scurfield 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m an emotional mess. My lesbian girlfriend and I broke up in August, and now I hold the lease on the apartment we shared. It’s a great big old place with two spacious balconies.

I just got new roommates — two younger friends who really love it here — but secretly I’m still feeling lonely. Every minute of living here reminds me of my girlfriend because we decorated the place together and hung out on the balconies to sunbathe in the summer.

Would it help to move out of my beloved old block with its memory triggers? Maybe, but what if I died of loneliness in a new place? I need people around me, and no one but my ex-girlfriend has really been the right person. Please help. I feel sick about this.

— Love-Nest Sadness, Winnipeg

Amazon in the weeds over damage to tall grass reserve

Eva Wasney 7 minute read Preview

Amazon in the weeds over damage to tall grass reserve

Eva Wasney 7 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

Patricia Dutchak was devastated when she first saw the wide swaths of crushed grass and upturned soil at Winnipeg’s Rotary Prairie Nature Park, a municipal heritage site.

“This is a very rare ecosystem, a remnant of tall grass prairie, there’s barely any left in the world, and to come here and see all this damage was heartbreaking,” Dutchak, chair of the Transcona Rotary Club’s parks committee, says.

The club is responsible for maintaining the protected green space, which was significantly damaged this summer when a fence between the park and the neighbouring Amazon distribution centre was relocated.

The 20-acre nature preserve is situated on a narrow tract of land on Regent Avenue West in the commercial heart of Transcona. The park received its municipal heritage designation in 1992 and is, today, surrounded by high-traffic streets, industrial warehouses and car dealerships.

Read
6:00 AM CDT

Botched execution revives death penalty debate

Arthur Chapman 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

The United States of America’s seemingly endless, often futile, search for the painless, bloodless method of executing prisoners continues. The latest horrifying chapter occurred in Tennessee on Sept. 30, when the state tried to kill convicted murderer Christa Pike by lethal injection.

It didn’t work. Pike survived two dosages of pentobarbital. She was rushed to a hospital where, according to her lawyer, she was receiving “lifesaving care”.

Tennessee governor Bill Lee has cancelled upcoming executions, but he isn’t moving away from capital punishment.

Lee said, as quoted in the New York Times: “The people of Tennessee have determined that capital punishment is the appropriate sentence for the most heinous of crimes. The people of Tennessee expect those sentences to be carried out in a manner that’s not only legal and constitutional but effective, and that didn’t happen.”

Mayoral hopefuls trade accusations

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Preview

Mayoral hopefuls trade accusations

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026

Two mayoral hopefuls traded accusations about meddling in each other’s campaigns as the incumbent rallied supporters for his re-election bid on the eve of advanced polls opening across Winnipeg.

A social media post made by Mike Vogiatzakis, one of 12 nominees in the Oct. 28 race for the top job at city hall, caught the attention of rivals Sunday.

The funeral director took to Facebook midday to criticize Kevin Klein — a competitor he said he thought of “as a friend” until the former Tory cabinet minister made a U-turn after pledging to back the Vogiatzakis campaign.

“Good speaker? Yes. Good looking guy? Sure. Someone I trust now? Absolutely not,” he wrote in a lengthy post.

Read
Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026

‘Amazing honour’: Winnipeg distribution centre continues award-winning ways for McKesson Canada

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Preview

‘Amazing honour’: Winnipeg distribution centre continues award-winning ways for McKesson Canada

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

After a three-year absence, the trophy is back in Winnipeg.

Last week, McKesson Canada named its 120,000-square-foot pharmaceutical distribution centre in the northwest part of the Manitoba capital its Distribution Centre of the Year. The award recognizes the facility’s role in helping essential medications reach communities across the province and some of Canada’s remote regions.

This is the fourth time the Winnipeg facility has earned the company-wide award since it opened five years ago. McKesson previously honoured the centre in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The recognition comes with a trophy, as well as a banner that was hung from the rafters on Thursday.

More than 100 employees work across the centre’s day-and-night operations, processing between 80,000 and 100,000 medication units daily. Last year, the centre distributed more than 21 million medication units while maintaining more than 99 per cent accuracy.

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

Real journalists matter in an AI world

Paul Deegan 4 minute read Preview

Real journalists matter in an AI world

Paul Deegan 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

An algorithm can decide what you see, but it doesn’t report the news. Nunatsiaq News, an award-winning newspaper in Nunavut, recently reported that a so-called “news” website was posting AI-generated articles about the north by stealing real news stories produced by real journalists.

The articles were supposedly written by Nunavut correspondent Leah Qammaniq — a fake journalist, with a fake photo and a fake bio.

Governor General Louise Arbour warned us of fake news in her installation speech in June. She said, “We must continue to protect the public space in which our national debates take place: from schools and universities to the media, political parties, unions and civil society organizations …With instant access to vast amounts of information, it is very tempting to pay little attention to the reliability of sources. The lines between knowledge and belief, between truth and falsehood, between facts and assumptions, are increasingly blurred. AI could be threatening not only the way we live and work, but also the control we exercise over our own destiny.”

The Government of Canada has recognized the problem as well. Its recent discussion paper, Enhancing trust in artificial intelligence through increased transparency, stated, “Canadians encounter news reporting, product reviews, and audio-visual content across the internet, often without any indication of whether it was written by a person, generated by an AI system, or produced through some combination of both … A particular concern within this broader landscape is that generative AI greatly enables the creation and dissemination of deceptive or misleading content.”

Read
2:00 AM CDT