Essay by Eric Worrall
Perhaps they are worried they won’t go home afterwards?
Labor plans to slash numbers for UN climate summit
Ryan Cropp and Phillip Coorey
Sep 10, 2025 – 5.39pmThe Albanese government will scale down the size of the COP31 climate summit to 30,000 delegates if its bid to host the conference is successful, as Labor readies itself for a last ditch lobbying effort to secure the event at this month’s United Nations meeting in New York.
Documents published late last week put the potential size of a COP summit in Adelaide at more than 52,000 attendees, which would include heads of state, UN officials, media, sponsors, “observers” and their delegations.
However, federal and state government sources speaking on condition of anonymity said Australia’s preferred figure is much lower, at 30,000, and Labor has little appetite to host an event on the scale of recent COP summits in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
The COP28 event in Dubai in 2023 was attended by more than 85,000 people, with just under 100,000 registered – exceeding the record attendance figure set at the previous year’s event in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
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Read more: https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/labor-plans-to-slash-numbers-for-un-climate-summit-20250910-p5mtxg
We can only speculate why the Aussie government wants to keep the 2026 COP conference small if they win the hosting bid.
Perhaps Australia’s leaders are worried about the cost. Or maybe they actually do fear 10s of thousands of attendees from low income nations will overstay their visas, creating a long running PR disaster spectacle of rounding up the lost COP31 climate refugees.
Australia: if you really want to do a Smaller Budget COP, and put the prior of Host Nations to shame…keeping with the “CO2 is BAD” moniker and “Sustainable is Better” catchphrase, you should consider doing the first exclusively “ZOOM MEETING” enhanced COP with an ultra small CO2 footprint.
No venue to prepare
No exclusive airline traffic
No extra electricity production
No expense importing exotic food stuffs
No worries when renewables fail and your grid seizes up
You’ll be the envy of all other COP conferences showing your commitment to the cause.
And just think of all the money you’ll save in the process.
😘 😎 ✨ 😇 😉 👍
And no luxury hotel accommodation or ladies of negotiable affection. It won’t happen.
Ladies of negotiable affection … What’s not to like about that!
If the sun is not shining and wind not blowing then SA will be short on power.
Today is a good example of how the State has come to rely on wind and solar. Even exporting to other States,
Things get tight when there is no wind or sun and they have to rely on Victoria, which currently has issues with lignite fire generators.
It would be very embarrassing if SA as host went dark during COP31.
Don’t forget there diesel backup generators when things go sideways:
“South Australia is using two mothballed Port Lincoln and Snuggery diesel generators as a temporary backup power source for the remaining summer months until 2028.”
The backup generators use naphthalene in mothballs as fuel?
All those poor male moths. I hope they’re well compensated for their sacrifice. Mothballs!
I guess they’re Trans Moths now
So basically they run on Coal Tar.
They want to fill the halls. Smaller is better. 😉
Will not look so bad when nobody shows up
As long as they get some saps to fund their junkets then they will turn up but the US government is unlikely to send many – or indeed any – next year.
At least they won’t have to chop down rain forest.
“That’s not a COP. THIS is a COP.”
The question is, will those living in Dundee get it?
A cop-out, perhaps? 🙂
If you want to reduce the number of delegates simply serve them crickets at the canteen and require they travel there by sailboat.
How dare you!
Hmmmmm . . . let’s see, 29 previous Conferences of Parties (COPs)—and without doubt COP30 to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025—with nothing meaningful resulting* from any of these, and yet Australia wants to host the 31st such conference, albeit at reduced scale? Really???
Some sage advice for Australian politicians and bureaucrats (of course, not expecting that they’ll heed it):
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
— quote widely misattributed to Alber Einstein but still one of value
*The shining example of ineffectiveness of COPs is the “Paris Agreement” that was adopted as the result of COP 21 in 2015 . . . now in shambles and doing NOTHING to control emissions in accordance with terms adopted and agreed to by 195 separate nations (“signatories”).
See also: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/09/12/cop30-lack-of-ambition-already-on-track-for-failure/
Good example of a consensus that means nothing.
How many good examples of consensus meaning something are out there in the wild?
Australia’s preferred figure is much lower, at 30,000, and Labor has little appetite to host an event on the scale of recent COP summits in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt
Maybe they’re acknowledging that if Adelaide got dumbed down much more than it currently is by adding 30k climate dingbats, it would have to be officially designated as an asylum for the mentally deranged.
I suggest a total of 300 – one from each country plus a handful of administrators.
0 would be the more rational number of attendees.
Is Zoom, Teams or google meet a thing Down Under? Maybe it could be something to consider? Don’t mind me, I will let myself out
want to Keep is Small
What does that mean?
Obvious typo: “. . . want to Keep it Small . . .”
(Saying nothing about the non-standard capitalization also used in the title.)
A better idea for COP 31 and the COPs in general would be just terminate them once and for all since they’ve accomplished nothing except cost taxpayers money to send delegates to an affair which has achieved next-to-nothing since its inception. For all the meetings, treaties, conferences, etc. on combating climate change, haven’t global carbon emissions risen 60% since 1990? So who’s actually doing anything about the issue? Who’s actually listening any more?
Forcing a smaller delegation would be perfect cover for limiting naysayers. This isn’t hard to see.
Because there are a lot of naysayers showing up at these events? I expected more in the form of a circle j*rk.
Story tip – Eric
FWIW –
Online Courier Mail click bait
“300+ days of flooding as grim new report predicts climate crisis impact”
Peeking over the Murdoch Wall
More here
https://www.dw.com/en/australia-climate-report-reveals-rising-oceans-threat/a-73993231
“Rising oceans and flooding caused by climate change will threaten the homes and livelihoods of over a million Australians by 2050, a report warned on Monday.
The National Climate Risk Assessment also warned that fatalities from heat-related illness will soar.”
Looks like they have cranked it up to about 12 or so
They must, must be panicking over the CO2 footprint of such a large gathering.
The U.S. delegation, if there is one, will likely be small. The U.S. will also not be willing to fund delegations from NGOs and low income countries, which will result in lower participation.