Anthony Albanese’s ‘clean energy superpower’ vow to world leaders

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to turn Australia into a “clean energy superpower” during a late night global economic forum.

Anthony Albanese has told global leaders that he wants Australia to be a renewable energy “superpower”, making the vow at a global economic forum convened by US President Joe Biden.

Speaking to the online forum late on Friday night, the Prime Minister announced Australia’s new 43 per cent emissions cut target, nearly doubling the previous 2030 target.

This new target will put Australia on track to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, with Mr Albanese telling the other leaders he wants our country to become a “clean energy superpower”.

Mr Albanese said the move would see 82 per cent of Australia’s National Energy Market coming from renewable sources by the end of this decade.

Stream more on politics with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to make Australia a renewable energy ‘superpower’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

US President Joe Biden addresses the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

He also promised that his government would seek to legislate the 2030 emissions targets in order to “provide certainty to Australian businesses and industries”.

The legislation is set to be introduced into parliament in July.

In a joint press release with Energy Minister Chris Bowen, Mr Albanese said the current energy issues plaguing Australia further highlights why these clean energy targets are so important.

“We will support the transition to renewable energy by investing in the transmission and storage needed to balance the grid, which will lower energy prices and support economic growth,” the statement read.

“Our plan will create more than 604,000 jobs, with five out of six new jobs to be created in the regions, and will spur $76 billion of investment. Australia’s abundant renewable energy resources mean we’re well placed to become a clean energy superpower.”

Mr Albanese said the new target reflects his government’s resolve to step up the pace of action and word alongside global partners to tackle climate change.

“When Parliament resumes, we will move quickly to enshrine Australia’s 2030 and 2050 targets in legislation, providing the certainty industry and investors have been seeking,” he said.

“Our Powering Australia plan will support the transition to renewable energy, including investing in the transmission and storage needed to balance the grid.”

Earlier this week, Mr Albanese lashed out over the current energy crisis, aking aim at power generators for withdrawing from the market and threatening power supply.

This forced the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to make the extraordinary move to scrap the market, making it compulsory for generators to feed their supply into the system in a bid to avoid mass blackouts.

It’s the first time the national market – which includes Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, NSW and the ACT – has been suspended since creation in 1998.

Five states across Australia have spent the week facing potential power outage fears. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw.

The Prime Minister accused generators of essentially “gaming the system”, telling ABC the way the east coast energy system was designed meant there was “almost a disincentive for it to operate properly”.

“There was a bit of gaming going on of the system, which is why AEMO used its tools at its disposal to intervene, so we do have these short-term issues,” he said.

He has said his government will seek to change the rules on how the energy market operates so that power generators are unable to hold back supply from Australians.

“The circumstances which were there, because of the way that the price mechanism was working … is why AEMO has intervened. We will look at any policy changes we could apply there as well,” he said.

“The weaknesses in the system there have been known for some time.”

Mr Albanese warned he wouldn’t be able to completely change the system in one day, but this “short term measure” was needed to ensure these same problems don’t occur in the future.