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Australia should use its COP31 negotiating role to put corporate responsibility for climate damage on the agenda—but it cannot make companies liable simply by hosting or leading talks. Türkiye will physically host COP31 in Antalya from 9 to 20 November 2026; Australia is President of Negotiations. And Australia’s 2025 Make the Polluters Pay bill, which proposed one way to assign climate-damage costs to fossil-fuel companies, lapsed before becoming law.
What does “polluters pay” mean?
It is a broad policy principle, not one settled Australian legal mechanism. In this debate, it means shifting some costs of climate harm from the public and affected communities to fossil-fuel companies, where responsibility can be established. That is different from requiring companies to cut emissions: a liability rule would address who bears particular costs and under what conditions.
Australia’s clearest recent example was the Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) Bill 2025. Parliament’s summary described a proposal for proportional liability for fossil-fuel companies and legal actions by certain people affected by climate change. The bill did not establish an operating claims process or a present right to compensation.
Is the Make the Polluters Pay Bill law in Australia?
No. The Parliament of Australia’s bill progress record says it lapsed at the end of the parliamentary period on 21 July 2025 and is not proceeding. It is a proposal, not current law; people cannot make claims under it.
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The distinction matters because Australia’s emissions targets are not compensation rules. The Australian Government’s current emissions-reduction page, last updated 1 April 2026, lists a legislated target to reduce emissions 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 and a legislated net-zero target by 2050. Separately, the government announced on 18 September 2025 a 2035 target of 62–70% below 2005 levels, accepting advice from the Climate Change Authority under the Climate Change Act 2022. These are national emissions goals, not measures of achieved reductions or rules assigning companies the cost of climate damage.
Who is hosting COP31, and what will Australia do?
Türkiye is the physical host of the conference and the World Leaders Summit; Australia leads the negotiations as President of Negotiations. The Australian Government’s joint announcement of 23 November 2025 described Australia selecting co-facilitators and working with Türkiye on action-agenda themes. Calling Australia a “co-host” is shorthand for this shared arrangement, not a claim that Australia controls the whole conference or can impose an international rule by itself.
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The UNFCCC lists COP31 in Antalya for 9–20 November 2026. It also lists Fiji, Tuvalu and Australia as partners for official Pacific pre-COP and leaders’ events scheduled for 5–8 October 2026. Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water says its COP31 focus includes accelerating the shift to clean energy, increasing finance and investment, growing the green economy and elevating Pacific priorities. Those priorities create a diplomatic opening to discuss who funds climate responses; they do not amount to a commitment to adopt corporate liability.
How is public climate support different from making companies liable?
Australia already supports some climate-related work through grants. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade describes grants for adaptation, disaster preparedness and projects responding to loss and damage. That public finance can help people and communities address climate impacts, but it does not itself establish that a company caused particular damage or require that company to pay.
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| Question | Public climate grants | Direct polluter liability |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays? | Public budgets fund grants, as described by DFAT’s climate policy page. | Companies would bear costs under a liability law; the lapsed 2025 bill proposed proportional liability for fossil-fuel companies. |
| What triggers support or payment? | Grant programs support adaptation, preparedness or loss-and-damage responses; the cited DFAT page does not set out detailed eligibility rules. | A future scheme would need rules connecting emissions to damage and establishing when liability applies; the lapsed bill’s record does not establish an operating test. |
| Who could receive it? | Recipients would depend on program eligibility, which is not fully detailed on the cited DFAT page. | A law would define who could bring claims. The 2025 bill proposed actions by certain people affected by climate change, but did not become law. |
| What does it do? | Funds activities such as adaptation, disaster preparedness and responses to loss and damage. | Assigns legal responsibility for particular damage and may require liable parties to bear costs. |
What should Australia argue for at COP31?
Australia should advocate for climate finance discussions to include a serious examination of corporate contributions to climate harm, while being clear that this is a policy recommendation—not an agreed COP31 outcome. A credible proposal should explain how any liability system would work rather than treating “polluters pay” as a complete design.
- Attribution: Set out how a decision-maker would connect particular emissions and companies to particular harm, including how responsibility is divided when causes overlap.
- Proof and procedure: Specify what evidence claimants must provide, who decides disputes and how cases can be brought without an unworkable burden on affected people.
- Scope and distribution: Define which losses and claimants are covered, how proportional shares are calculated and how any funds reach affected communities.
- Relationship to public finance: Explain how company contributions would complement, rather than be confused with, government grants for adaptation, preparedness and loss-and-damage responses.
The available official records do not settle those design choices or establish compensation totals, company shares or likely outcomes of a future scheme. COP31 cannot resolve them by slogan alone. But Australia’s negotiating position gives it an opportunity to press for those questions to be addressed alongside clean-energy investment and climate finance, with the Pacific’s priorities part of the discussion.
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