Sharm el-Sheikh: Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has told global climate talks that Australia “is back as a constructive, positive, and willing climate collaborator,” as a new report shows the nation still ranks in the bottom 10 on effective climate policy.

Addressing the COP27 talks for the first time as ministerial-level negotiations began at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, Bowen called for reform of some of the world’s financial institutions.

He said “our international financial architecture was built for a different time”, adding that there was a moral imperative for them to work with developing nations, many of which have been crying out for cheaper finance to help adapt to the warming world.

“Some of our international financial institutions are stepping up to this, our most important global task. Others are not,” Bowen said.

“Just as we commit to this agenda as individual nations, our multilateral development banks – including the World Bank – must be wholeheartedly committed to this, from their purpose to their actions.”

In the lead up to the talks, the World Bank was criticised over its climate spending and there were calls for its president, David Malpass, to resign over comments in which he appeared to question basic climate science.

Noting that announcing goals was easier than meeting them, Bowen said that on his return to Australia he would deliver Australia’s first Annual Climate Change Statement under new climate legislation.

It will be a “comprehensive and transparent stocktake” showing whether the nation is on track to meet the government’s new 43 per cent emissions reduction target, he said.

“The urgency with which we must act requires frank conversations about where we are now, where we are going, and how we are going to get there.”