National Statement to COP30 Belem, Brazil

Thank you Mr President.

I begin by reaffirming Australia's commitment to the inclusion of First Nations people in our climate change response and clean energy future.

Friends, 10 years on from the Paris Agreement, more than 30 years from the Rio Earth Summit here in Brazil, which began this journey, it's time for us to take stock.

We've made progress, including by bringing our projected emissions down from 4 degrees of warming to 2.1, 2.8 degrees.

And while the current global environment is without doubt challenging, the fact is the world remains seized with the opportunity before us.

That's because the net zero transition is no longer just necessary, it is the engine room of global economic growth.

It underscores that we need to be unwavering and unrelenting in our collective efforts to realise the goals of the Paris Agreement.

I’d like to thank the COP president, my very good friend, Andre Correa do Lago, and Team Brazil for bringing us together for this Global Mutirao.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with you today at this critical time here in the heart of the Amazon.

When we act together, we can achieve together.

Friends, 2025 has been a big year for climate action in Australia.

In September we submitted our 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution, a target of 62 to 70 per cent below 2005 levels.

It's both ambitious and achievable.

It's a magnet for investment in our clean energy transition.

Our domestic uptake and rollout of renewables continues at speed.

In September, for the first time, Australian saw renewables overtake coal as our largest source of energy in our national energy market.

More than one third of Australian homes have solar panels on their roofs.

Some of those installed panels because they want to address climate change, but most of them did it because what's good for the planet is also good for your pocket.

We have so much solar now that we are introducing Solar Sharer – a retail offer including three hours of free power in the middle of the day, even for households without panels.

And over 125,000 households have now installed batteries since 1 July, thanks to our Cheaper Home Batteries program.

That's 1000 households each and every day installing a battery.

With a solar panel on the roof, and a battery in your garage, households will decide what they do with their energy.

It is clear we are in a decade of electrification.

Australia knows and the world knows, a transition to a cleaner, cheaper, more reliable grid is good for emissions, good for energy security and good economics.

Friends, we are less than 50 months away now from 2030, and if there's one region that's been leading the drive for collective climate action, courage and conviction, it's the Pacific.

That's why if Australia hosts COP31, it will be in partnership with the Pacific.

In hosting COP31, we want to bring the world to our region to see the impacts of climate change and bring the world's best innovators and businesses to invest in solutions.

Hosting COP31 will deliver hope for our steadfast commitment to collective action, bringing continuity and stability from the Amazon, the lungs of the Earth, to our blue Pacific continent, and highlighting the immense economic opportunities for all countries of climate action and a net zero future.

To build on what works and what has come before us.

Thank you.