November 14, 2026
At today’s Climate Action
Network (CAN) International press conference at COP31,
Denise Cauchi, CEO of Climate Action Network
Australia, sharply criticised Australia’s failure
to lead as President of Negotiations. She warned that
ambition on the Just Transition Mechanism is being
dangerously weakened.
Speakers from the United States
and Latin America also challenged the lack of meaningful
support for workers and communities, and warned against
electrification plans that entrench fossil fuel dependence
and environmental injustice.
On Australia’s
leadership
“Our Prime Minister Albanese missed
the opportunity to provide the high-level signals and vision
that this COP needs. Failing to announce finance or even
mention fossil fuels were avoidable mistakes, and we cannot
afford any more of them,” said
Cauchi.
“Australia arrived at COP31 without
having built a strong leadership narrative or momentum
around the negotiations. We’re halfway through COP31.
It’s time to stop dicking around and show some
vision.”
On a hollow Just Transition
Mechanism
Reacting to the first draft of the
Belém-Antalya Just Transition Mechanism, Cauchi warned that
the proposals lack the ambition and resources needed to
deliver practical support for workers and
communities.
“We need a strong institution that
can respond to requests for matchmaking and resource
mobilisation, and that ensures meaningful participation of
civil society in decision-making. Communities need a seat at
the table. Giving a mechanism responsibilities without the
means to carry them out will leave workers and communities
waiting for help that will never
arrive.”
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“Civil society will not accept the
lowballing of ambition in these negotiations. We have a week
to go. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get it
done.”
Ife Kilimanjaro, Executive
Director of US Climate Action Network, warned that
the mechanism risks becoming another bureaucratic exercise
while attention shifts towards a possible COP31 cover
decision.
“Right now in Antalya, the promise of
ambition is failing. A just transition must deliver secure
jobs and new opportunities for workers and communities.
Instead, the current draft risks handing us more meetings,
more reports and another website, things we already have,
but nothing that pushes the work forward. True climate
leadership means putting people, nature and the planet ahead
of profit.”
On electrification without climate
justice
Laura Restrepo Alameda, Climate
Action Network Latin America (CANLA), warned that
electrification will fail to deliver a fair transition if it
entrenches fossil fuel dependence, extractive practices and
violations of Indigenous rights.
“There is a
massive push for electrification, often marketed as climate
action. But electrification is not inherently just, nor is
it automatically green.
“Fair electrification
means participatory, decentralised and democratised
renewable energy systems, with energy treated as a human
right and a common good, not a commodity for export or for
the richest. Latin America will not accept a transition
built on fossil gas, voluntary loopholes or neocolonial
extractivism.”
