Speech to the G20 Environment and Climate Ministerial Meeting

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The new Australian Government is committed to protecting, restoring, and managing our precious environment.

We’re determined to do better than we have in the past and we hope that this conference will lead to agreement from all nations to increase our collective and individual ambition on climate change and on environmental protection.

As my colleague, Minister Bowen, has outlined – one of our first acts of the new government was to lift Australia’s climate change ambition, setting higher targets for emissions reduction by 2030, with a clear path to net zero by 2050.

Just a few weeks ago at the UN Oceans conference in Lisbon, I said that on the environment, Australia is back. And I meant it.

Our government has been in office about 100 days.

Already we are writing new environmental legislation – to build higher standards of protection into our national law.

We’re creating a new Environmental Protection Agency – to make sure these high standards are enforced on the ground.

We’ve announced our pledge to protect thirty percent of our land and oceans by 2030.

We are working hand in hand with our First Nations Australians who have 65,000 years of environmental management for us to learn from and draw on.

One of our government’s most important priorities is to see new private investment in nature.

We see enormous untapped potential here, and Australia is determined to help unleash it, not in place of government action but in addition to it.

That’s why we’re legislating a world first nature market to establish the measurement, integrity, and property rights necessary to properly reward the restoration and protection of biodiversity – working side by side with our carbon market.

Ladies and gentleman, Australia stands ready to do its part. To lift ambition, to face the most critical challenges facing humanity today.

Can I thank Ibu Siti for your leadership and for the marvellous hosting that Indonesia has done for this G20 Environment and Climate Change Ministers meeting.