Australia has dodged global attention on fossil fuels because of assiduous diplomatic efforts | Richie Merzian and Fergus Green

If the country doubles its coal production, the Paris climate agreement goals cannot be met

Antonio Guterres is this week hosting a major gathering of world leaders in an attempt to accelerate global action on climate change. The UN secretary general has made tackling fossil fuels, and especially coal, central to the summit's success. He has urged governments to stop permitting new coal-fired power stations to be built and to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels.

In this context, the countries that are subsidising and facilitating the expansion of coal, oil and gas production merit just as much critical scrutiny as those that are burning these fuels. Just as it would be wrong to tackle smoking by focusing only on smokers and ignoring the efforts of Big Tobacco, it is wrong to tackle the global fossil fuel addiction by ignoring the countries that deal heavily in the product.