Address to the Sydney Energy Forum

A few hundred metres from here, in 1788, the occupants of 11 British ships came ashore on what was the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. 

It still is Gadigal land, and always will be. I know you join with me in celebrating and acknowledging their elders past, present and emerging.

I also want to acknowledge our distinguished guests, beginning with my fellow speaker and friend, Mr Arifin Tasrif – the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia.

Pak Arifin, 
 
Selamat datang di Australia. 
 
Bapak adalah tamu yang paling terhormat di negara kami. 
 
Memperdalam hubungan antara kedua negara kita adalah prioritas penting bagi Pemerintah kami dan bagi saya pribadi juga. 
 
Saya berharap dapat bekerja samadengan Bapak di tahun-tahun yang mendantang. 

Indonesia’s presidencies of the G20 this year and ASEAN next year are both remarkable opportunities for Indonesia and the region. 

I look forward to joining you in Bali in a few weeks for the G20 Energy Ministers meeting. 

It is a pleasure to also welcome Mr RK Singh, the Indian Minister of Power and Minister of New and Renewable Energy.

Minister, as much as I am a lover of India, and although I have visited many times since my first visit in 1998, I am afraid I can’t speak Hindi. 

However I hope this lack of skill in your language doesn’t dissuade you from the view that you are a welcome and honoured guest. 

We are also joined today by the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa, Mr Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster.  

Warm and respectful relations with our Pacific Family have been and will continue to be a priority for the Albanese Government and there is no more important issue for us to collaborate on than climate change. 

I would like to thank, Dr Fatih Birol and the IEA for co-hosting the Forum with us. The knowledge and expertise you bring will enrich the events of today and tomorrow.

I also acknowledge my Australian colleagues:

• The Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator Don Farrell;
• The Minister for Resources, Madeleine King;
• My Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator Jenny McAllister; 
• The Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Trade, Senator Tim Ayres; and
• Queensland’s Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen, Mick de Brenni.

And finally, I would like to welcome Dr Alan Finkel and thank him for all his work in helping prepare for the Forum and chairing the Steering Committee.  

Well, thank you to everyone who has travelled to this, my home town, for the Sydney Energy Forum. 

We all know that the world faces both remarkable challenges and opportunities in this decade. 

Because this decade is “crunch time” for reducing our emissions to hold the world as close as possible to 1.5 degrees of warming. 

But what gets less focus is the importance of our region in this massive, necessary transformation. 

The Indo-Pacific counts for more than half of the world’s energy consumption and emissions. 

That’s the challenge.

But our region, if we approach this the right way, also stands to benefit from extraordinary opportunities. 

I often say “the world’s climate emergency is Australia’s jobs opportunity”. 

This is also true of our region. All of us in this room have a key role to play in this economic transformation. Because we can become the key global source of the raw materials, products and technologies that are vital to reducing emissions. 

Let’s look at some of those in turn.  

Batteries

Australia is the biggest producer of lithium in the world, with 49% of global production in 2020. 

With battery demand expected to grow at an incredible rate over the next decade, Australia can seize the opportunity to become a critical mineral powerhouse. My colleague Ed Husic, the Minister for Industry, has begun to pursue this opportunity through the Government’s Australian Made Battery Plan, as has my colleague Madeleine King through the Resources portfolio. 

Steel.

The world will continue to need steel to underpin the technology and infrastructure for the clean energy transformation. 53% of the worlds steel starts as Australian iron ore. 

Combine this with our abundant solar and wind, and it’s clear that Australia can set the foundations for a green steel supply chain. 

Hydrogen.

Japan is setting the foundations for new clean energy supply chains in our region, investing significantly in hydrogen production, use and transport technologies.

Japan and the Indo Pacific are leading the world in hydrogen.

And finally, we cannot and have not forgotten solar.

India is on the path to becoming a solar giant, underpinned by the scale of their manufacturing sector, and spurred on by their ambitious target of reaching 100 GW of solar this year.

And so, it’s no exaggeration to say that the Indo-Pacific today is embarking on a transformation similar in scale to the industrial revolution in Europe in the 18th century. 

And, as we are discussing in this forum, we are also dealing with real pressures in supply chains for even the most basic of items. 

But, unlike our predecessors who had to manage the Industrial Revolution, we can draw on hundreds of years of economic thinking and lessons learned. 

And so, as we consider the massive challenges accompanied by extraordinary opportunities in our region, it seems to me we can be guided by three principles. 

Firstly, action on climate change is in our region’s own economic interest, not just an international environmental obligation. 

Secondly, healthy competition can and should be accompanied by close collaboration in our region. 

And finally, we must all ensure that the economic costs and benefits of real action on climate change are fairly shared. 

Let me now deal with each of these principles in a little more detail.

First, it is obvious that climate action is in our environmental interest. 

Here in Australia, the increasing frequency and severity of fires on one hand, and floods on the other, is testament to that. 

Our thoughts remain with the Australians who have faced flooding in recent weeks, many of them not for the first time.

And of course, the same climate impacts are obvious across our region. 

Climate change is more than an abstract threat, especially for Pacific Island nations where increasing intensity of tropical cyclones and extreme weather events are causing untold damage.

For Indonesia, as the world’s largest archipelago, climate change is set to increase the risk of storm surges, unleash extreme heatwaves, and intensify tropical cyclones. Alongside China, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh, Indonesia’s large coastal populations face amplified risk from devastating floods.

India faces some of the highest disaster risk levels in the world. Droughts will happen more often. River flooding already affects 4.8 million people, with an expected annual impact on GDP of $14 billion. With further climate change, these impacts will increase.

So climate action is obviously in our environmental interest. 

And it should be equally obvious that the clean energy transformation is in our region’s economic and security interests.

The current issues confronting global energy markets highlight this. 

The illegal invasion of Ukraine has had devastating human consequences and underscored the importance of diverse, resilient global energy supply chains.

Indeed, it has tested the limits of global energy markets and supply chains. 

Homes and businesses around the world have been affected. 

Australia has not been immune.

Despite our huge energy export industry, our homes and businesses have felt the impact.

Soaring global energy prices, in part from the invasion, underscore that the time to act on climate and energy is now. 

There is no time to waste.

By building resilient clean energy supply chains, we can protect our economies from the shocks of the next crisis.

The one supply chain no geopolitical crisis can disrupt is the supply of sun to our land and the supply of wind to our countries’ coasts and hills.

And the truth is that good climate policy is good economic policy. 

Good climate policy can bring us closer together. 

Which brings me to my second point – that healthy competition can and should be accompanied by close collaboration in our region. 

As you all know, Australia is a leading supplier of energy resources to the world. 

We have been called an energy superpower. 

And in the clean energy future, Australia will be a renewable energy superpower. 

Australia is a trusted, stable energy supplier and safe investment location. 

We are committed to continue in that role while we achieve net zero here – and help the world achieve it, too. 

The clean energy transformation will require rapid acceleration in the global production and deployment of clean energy technologies. 

Technologies such as solar PV, hydrogen and batteries. 

We are committed to ensuring Australia contributes to the increase in energy production that our region needs.

That the world needs.

But our vision to achieve this is not possible without close cooperation with other nations of the Indo-Pacific.

And that collaboration has already begun. 

Less than an hour ago, I signed on behalf of the Australian Government, a landmark agreement with the United States.

My counterpart Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm signed on behalf of the US.

Through the Australia-US Net Zero Technology Acceleration Partnership we will work together.

We will speed up the development and deployment of energy storage and digital grids.

We will work to ensure critical minerals supply chains are secure and resilient– ramping up production, processing and manufacturing capacity. 

These technologies and supply chains will be critical to the roll-out of renewable energy in Australia and the United States.

In short: the partnership is a commitment to make climate change a centrepiece of our alliance with the US.

I am proud of this partnership, and proud that it happened here at the Sydney Energy Forum.

And similar partnerships are evolving between Australia and countries across our region. 

With India, Australia is working together to scale up the manufacture and deployment of solar PV and electrolysers.

Tomorrow, the Minister and I will make a joint visit to the University of New South Wales – a centre of Australia’s expertise in solar photovoltaic research.

With Indonesia, Australia has already announced $200 million in funding for our climate and infrastructure partnership.

And with Japan, we are working to identify opportunities to deepen collaboration – especially on the supply of hydrogen and associated technologies.

So Australia wants to work with nations across the Indo-Pacific so this region can lead the world on the clean energy transformation.

Together, we can act on the global climate emergency, and realise the jobs opportunity that comes with action.

And thirdly, as we do that, we must all ensure that the economic costs and benefits of real action on climate change are fairly shared. 

As I’ve said, the clean energy transformation offers opportunities across our region. 

But it is also vital that no-one is left behind.

In particular, we need to work with the leaders of emerging economies to understand and address their concerns. 

And this same need for benefits to be shared – and be seen to be shared – is also true within each of our countries. 

Because that is fair, not to mention vital to social licence for the clean energy transition. 

Take Australia. 

For too long, Australians had been led to believe that climate policy posed nothing but difficult choices:

• economic growth or emissions reductions. 
• happy cities or thriving regions.
• protecting the Great Barrier Reef or protecting our workforce.

But that false dichotomy was shattered during the recent Australian election campaign.

Independent modelling of our policies to reduce emissions showed that they would also create over 600,000 jobs. 

And crucially, the modellers found that 5 in 6 of those jobs would be in the regions – in other words, that the benefits would be shared. 

These benefits come from the Powering Australia agenda that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and our Government are now implementing. 

Last month we formally pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

And later this month, when Parliament sits, we will introduce legislation to enshrine the nation’s emissions reduction targets in law. 

Our 2030 target sees us re-join key trading partners in their ambitions, such as Japan at 46%. 

That’s why when the Prime Minister and I signed the letter notifying the UN of Australia’s new 43% emissions reduction target, we invited representatives of: 

• The business community AND the trade union movement.
•  Big energy users AND big energy generators.
•  Manufacturers AND climate groups. 

We did that to underline the fact that we really are all in this together.  

And we are making our own investments to back up our commitment. 

For example, our $15 billion Australian National Reconstruction Fund will help us harness Australia’s renewable potential.

It will drive investment in projects that build prosperity. 

And it will broaden the industrial base and boost regional jobs and prosperity.

The fund will build our capacity to process and refine more raw materials like lithium and nickel in Australia, which are key to global clean energy technologies. 

It will focus on production of green, low-cost materials for wind turbines and solar PV, as well as the broader economy. 

The fund will also strengthen emerging sectors such as hydrogen and battery production, supported by hydrogen hubs and an Australian Made Battery Precinct. 

So Australia’s policies will deliver on our ambitious emission reduction targets.

Our policies will help build and diversify clean energy supply chains.

And they will help Australia realise the jobs opportunity that comes with that.   

So friends, it is more important than ever to work cooperatively to make the leap to our clean energy future.

Acting on climate change is not a zero-sum game.

It needs us all, and it’s an economic opportunity for all of us.

That’s why it’s so important that we’re gathered here this week.

The Indo-Pacific region has an opportunity to lead the world in the clean energy transformation.

This forum can be a crucial step towards achieving that goal. 

I can’t wait to work with each of you to make this vision a reality. In fact, by our presence here today, the work has already begun.