Australian firefighters and bushfire survivors have united to urge world leaders to reduce carbon emissions this decade.
Jo Dodds, who is president of the group Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, was one of two Australians to speak overnight at the event co-hosted by the Climate Council, and Emergency Leaders for Climate Action at the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow.
Ms Dodds took aim at "vague" net-zero by 2050 targets, and said it only brought "more despair."
“I represent bushfire survivors, I bring with me the voices of the many thousands of Australians who have felt the effects of catastrophic fires firsthand," Ms Dodds said.
"We need hope. There’s no recovery, no resilience, no renewal without hope."
"I’ve come to COP26 here in Glasgow to plead for that hope. Because a vague 2050 target does not bring us hope, it does not bring us the emission cuts we need. It brings us only more despair."
Ms Dodds appeared alongside Hannah Parris — an Australian living overseas whose parents' house burnt down in the 2019-2020 Black Summer Bushfires — as well as Tiffany Traverse, an Indigenous officer at the British Colombia Wildfire Service in Canada, and director of the Lutheran Office and Power Policy in California, Regina Banks.
President of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, Jo Dodds. Source: Supplied
“I’m standing here today with people from across the world... to call on world leaders to address these horrific fires at their root cause: the burning of fossil fuels," Ms Dodds said.
"We now know that when you can see the fire, it’s too late. Now is the time to act.”
It comes as an Australian community-funded, full-page advertisement featuring an image of a Kangaroo in front of a burning house during the Black Summer Bushfires, was placed in UK newspaper The Times by the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA).
The advertisement by the group — a coalition of 34 former Australian emergency chiefs — calls on global leaders to phase out fossil fuels "as if [their] lives depend on it."
"In summer 2019-20, Australia was on fire," the advertisement reads. "More than 460 people died. Three billion animals were killed or displaced, and thousands of homes destroyed."
"Worse is on its way as climate change fuels catastrophic megafires worldwide. Firefighters are doing our best but we need world leaders (including our own) to stand with us."
Climate councillor and ELCA founder, Greg Mullins, said the catastrophic bushfire event was "hell on Earth".
The full-page ad placed in UK newspaper The Times by the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. Source: Supplied
"No one wants to go through that again, but unfortunately, because of climate change, we will," Mr Mullins said in a statement.
“Our ad — which will be seen by many influential delegates at COP26 — sends a message that we need drastic emissions cuts this decade to protect life, property, and the environment."
He said the Australian government seemed "intent on making things worse by clinging to polluting fossil fuels."
“Time has run out and there can be no more excuses or meaningless slogans. It’s time to wake up and smell the smoke," he said.
, Lord Deben, on Monday as the second week of COP26 kicked off.
Lord Deben said Australia's emission ambitions were "a great disappointment", and accused the Morrison government of having no concrete plans to reduce emissions by 2030.
Australia did not support a pledge, signed by 40 countries, to shift away from coal at the climate summit, and did not join more than 100 counties in signing a commitment to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
