Scott Morrison and Narendra Modi in talks to ensure energy supply

Scott Morrison and Indian PM Narendra Modi will extend their plans to develop a new pandemic-driven appreciation of climate-change policies ensuring energy supplies.

Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in Japan in 2019. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will extend their plans to develop a new pandemic-driven appreciation of climate-change policies ensuring energy supplies, during a face-to-face meeting in Washington ahead of Friday’s leaders’ meeting of the Quad partnership.

They have been working for months on ways to secure energy and resources supply chains, particularly for developing nations, while still limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Morrison and Mr Modi want to look beyond just targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and consider maintaining vital supply chains of energy resources and new technologies.

The leaders also discussed the parallel approach to climate change during the G7 summit in Cornwall in June.

The disruption of vital global supply chains of essential goods and resources driven by the pandemic prompted a new discussion on the energy economy, with some nations recognising the need to keep supply going.

Under pressure to commit to a net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050 at or before the climate change summit in Glasgow, Mr Morrison has been working on a new perspective which not only looks at targets and achieving those targets but also securing ­energy supplies.

He has repeatedly refused to commit Australia to a carbon reduction target of net-zero emissions by 2050 despite pressure from within his own party, the UN and a range of nations.

In Washington this week, Mr Morrison said he has been pointing out to world national institutional leaders, including US President Joe Biden, that Australia is meeting its global commitments on emissions reduction.

Mr Morrison said in Washington that in those meetings he was able “to address the significant progress Australia has made: 20 per cent reduction in emissions in Australia since 2005, which outstrips many countries’ performance, including here, frankly, in the United States and Canada, New Zealand and so many other countries”.

“Australia has been arguing since last year that setting carbon emissions reduction targets is not enough unless the targets are achieved,” he said. “You have a plan to meet your commitment. If you don’t have a plan, you don’t have a commitment.”

Before his meeting with Mr Modi, Mr Morrison said the meetings in New York and Washington were a good opportunity to discuss the plan “not just in advanced economies, but in developing economies as well”.

“We share a passion that developing economies, particularly in our region, the Indo-Pacific, will be able to develop their economies with a clean energy future, that they will be able to realise the jobs that advanced economies have, to develop their industrial base on the new energy technologies,” he said. “Australia wants to play a critical role in that. And we want to partner with countries to achieve it.”