Satirical billboards mocking Australia’s climate change record are to appear in Glasgow in time for COP26.

Australian comedian and ‘investigative humourist’ Dan Ilic purchased the billboard space and crowdfunded to pay for the billboards which ridicule the country’s record on climate change commitments. 

The UN climate change summit will see the world’s eyes on Glasgow from October 30 until November 14 when world leaders, climate activists and cultural spearheads will gather to discuss climate change, and what can be done to tackle it.

The signs, which read ‘Cuddle a Koala! (Before we make them extinct)’ and ‘Australia: Net Zero by 2050’ with a kangaroo with its tail on fire will appear on digital out of home operator Ocean Outdoor’s Expressway Tower and will appear on the screen on the A814 facing traffic entering Glasgow.

They will also appear at 1585 Shettleston Road, Gartocher Road Glasgow G32 9AS and 19 Rutherglen Road, Strathclyde G73 1SX.

Mr Ilic, who was in Paris for the climate talks in 2015, said the decision to make the billboards came after ‘a daily deluge’ telling him ‘what a bad actor Australia was in negotiations’. 

As he could not come to Glasgow for COP26 due to vaccination delays he made the decision to purchase the billboards.

 

The comedian raised more than 40,000 Australian dollars (£21,000) from public donors in just two hours to pay for the ads and says the surplus funds will be used to buy other billboards in key political constituencies in Australia.

He said: "Thousands of Australians have chipped in to say that the Australian Government doesn't represent them on the world stage. The Australian Prime Minister's COP26 climate plan is much worse than that time the English sent the ANZACs to the wrong beach.

"I think there are loads of Australians who believe our government isn't doing enough for climate action and has let us down over the past 15 years."

As part of the agreement negotiated in Paris in 2015, signatories must publish NDCs – plans which set out the action they plan to take to contribute to the goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees, with “further efforts” to limit it to no more than 1.5 degrees.

Australia is a signatory to the Paris Agreement but the country's prime minister Scott Morrison has come under fire for submitting less ambitious targets than some other major nations.

Then asked on Australian TV news show The Project, Mr Ilic said: “I think there are loads of Australians who believe our government isn’t doing enough in climate actions, there are loads of Australians who believe our government has let us down over the last 15 years when it comes to climate actions.”