London, October 22 (RHC)-- A major leak of documents published by Greenpeace reveals how a number of wealthy nations -- including Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia -- tried to water down a key United Nations scientific report ahead of the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow. 

In one comment, a senior Australian government official rejected the conclusion that coal-fired power plants should be phased out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, told reporters: “They asked to be deleted the fact that they’re a major coal producer.  Now, this is particularly bizarre, because I think Australia is about the fifth-largest coal producer in the world.  It’s also first or second, with Indonesia, the largest coal exporter in the world.  And obviously it also has a big coal industry in terms of power from coal inside Australia itself, and no plans, actually, to phase out coal during the course of the next three decades.  So, I think it’s quite extraordinary that Australia should say, 'Please delete this.'”