21 Mai 2024, Newcastle -  The City of Newcastle, Australia, home of the world's largest coal port, recently voted to become the 111th local government globally to endorse and formally call for nations to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

Newcastle joins the City of Sydney, the Australian Capital Territory, the Mayor of Hobart and several councils across Victoria in endorsing the Fossil Fuel Treaty proposal. It is notably the first of the seven Australian endorsing councils with a mayor from the Australian Labor Party to back the initiative. 

They join a growing bloc of countries, including many Pacific Island nations, subnational governments and city councils around the world supporting the development of a new international framework that would aim to end the expansion of fossil fuels, phase out oil, gas and coal production by managing and financing a global just transition for workers and communities to prosper in a renewable energy-powered future.

Newcastle is not alone in their stance, with other major fossil fuel producing regions also supporting the proposed Treaty, from the State of California to the national government of Colombia, the largest oil and coal producer to join the growing bloc of governments spearheading this proposal.

Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, yesterday sent a letter of congratulations to Newcastle City Council saying, “On behalf of the City of Sydney, I write to congratulate you and the City of Newcastle for signing the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.  As the City of Newcastle is home to one of the world's largest coal ports, this must have been a difficult decision, and I commend you for your courage in taking this step. The climate crisis is the most pressing issue of our time and urgent action is needed.”

The motion that was supported by the council states that the City of Newcastle has already declared a climate emergency in 2019, including a commitment to a just economic transition for coal mining communities, support for investment in hydrogen as an export energy, and construction of large-scale renewables and storage. 

Councillor John Mackenzie, when co-sponsoring the motion, said "This Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty was initiated by Pacific nations who are experiencing the existential threat of climate change before many other nations and it is very important to us being in the region that we support their initiative."

Labor Councillor Deahnna Richardson added “Australia is in a privileged position having been able to capitalize on the mining and export of coal and other fossil fuels for most of our history post-colonisation. […]Unfortunately, our Pacific nations neighbors have neither had that opportunity and now bear the full brunt of climate change with limited or no resources to finance disaster resilience.” 

The endorsement comes as momentum builds for Australia to address not only domestic emissions but also the significant impact of their coal and gas extraction and exports. At the local level, the decision was taken by the city council just days after an announcement by the Port of Newcastle, highlighting findings from a study it commissioned that demonstrated that with proper investment and appropriate stakeholder consultation, it had the physical characteristics to support the Floating Offshore Wind industry in New South Wales.

A recent report titled the Extraction Equity Report underscores this need to phase out fossil fuels equitably, revealing that to limit warming to 1.5ºC wealthy nations must phase out coal, oil and gas production first and fastest, while also providing significant support and finance to developing countries with less capacity to transition. The report found that Australia would need to phase out all coal, oil and gas production by 2031 in a 1.5ºC scenario.

Councillor Charlotte McCabe, noted: “It is commendable that Newcastle Council has endorsed this treaty. Importantly, it commits to a fair phase out and a just transition, which is exactly what the Hunter needs in order to plan for a prosperous future."

Michael Poland, Campaign Director at the Fossil Fuel Treaty initiative, said:  “The Australian government – the world’s third largest fossil fuel exporter – is increasingly isolated in their plans to continue expanding coal and gas extraction. From councils in coal regions to our Pacific neighbours, people across the world are calling for governments to plan a fast and fair phase out of fossil fuels. Later will be too late, the Albanese government could listen to these calls and end the expansion of fossil fuels today.”

Alexa Stuart, former Newcastle Young Citizen of the Year and Rising Tide National Coordinator welcomed the endorsement, saying: “We are overjoyed that our local Newcastle Council has endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. It brings us great hope that the council that is home to the world’s largest coal port has aligned with the science, Pacific Island leaders and younger generations to call for an end to new fossil fuel projects.  The endorsement shows that the city and the people of Newcastle want to get on with the transition to renewable energy and we congratulate the Newcastle Council for their leadership. We hope that the federal government will listen to these calls and ban all new fossil fuel projects.”