Canberra/ New York | Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will warn Australia faces an “enormous” task in meeting its newly legislated carbon emissions targets, with the heavy reliance on Chinese solar panels a key energy security risk.

A day after Foreign Minister Penny Wong met her Chinese counterpart in New York, Mr Bowen called on like-minded countries including the US to work in tandem to reduce dependence on Chinese solar panels, and issued allies with a call to arms on the staggering scale of the looming decarbonisation effort.