Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden strike historic climate deal

Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden have bolstered the Australia-US alliance with a landmark pact.

Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden have struck a landmark deal to bolster the Australia-US alliance, making co-operation on the clean energy revolution its third pillar along with our defence and economic ties.

The climate pact will fuse our resources to develop solar, wind and storage technology, co-ordinate the supply of critical minerals, develop new types of batteries, and support emerging hydrogen markets.

The Prime Minister and the President also announced Australia would be added as a domestic source in the US defence industrial base, opening up major opportunities to manufacture critical military equipment, as well as plans for a new American space station down under to support moon missions and a joint council to combat child sexual exploitation.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Joe Biden sign their new climate pact. Picture: Supplied

The pair met in Japan on the sidelines of the G7 summit after Mr Biden was forced to scrap his trip to Australia this week to return to the US to avert a looming economic crisis.

The President apologised to Mr Albanese as well as the other Quad leaders, who also met on Saturday night instead of at the planned Sydney Opera House summit, which the Prime Minister had promised would be the biggest diplomatic event down under in a decade.

They agreed the next Quad summit would be held in India next year, meaning Australia has now missed its chance to host the leaders before next year’s US presidential election.

Mr Albanese told Mr Biden he hoped he would still visit “sometime in the future”.

Together, the United States and Australia have delivered a historic year – from standing as one to defend our shared values in support of Ukraine to launching a new joint initiative to accelerate a transition to clean energy. pic.twitter.com/CCOq6m8xsy

— President Biden (@POTUS) May 20, 2023

The President praised the Prime Minister as a “great partner” and said he was looking forward to hosting him in Washington DC for a state visit within the next six months, after what he called “a historic year for both of us”.

Mr Albanese said he was “saddened” Mr Biden had postponed his trip but he could “certainly understand the circumstances”, with the President having to negotiate a deal to raise the US debt ceiling before the government defaults as soon as June 1.

The climate deal was a key priority pursued by Mr Albanese after he was elected a year ago.

“Together, Australia and the United States will deliver sustainable, resilient and secure critical minerals and clean energy technology to the world,” the Prime Minister and the President said in a joint statement.

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Quad meeting. Picture: Jonathan Ernst (AFP)

An action plan will be developed by the end of the year to deliver on it, with a new ministerial-level dialogue also put in place to guide joint efforts to reach net zero emissions.

The US also welcomed Australia’s bid to host the COP31 climate change summit in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific Islands.

On defence, Mr Albanese thanked Mr Biden for listing Australia as a domestic source under the US Defence Production Act, an issue he said he raised with him during the AUKUS nuclear submarine announcement in San Diego in March.

The sweeping law gives the US President broad powers to provide incentives and guarantee the development and production of essential materials, with the two leaders saying it would spark American investment “in the production and purchase of Australian critical minerals, critical technologies and other strategic sectors”.

US President Joe Biden, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Quad meeting. Picture: Jiji Press

Mr Biden agreed to share sensitive US space launch technology and data with Australia, as well as promising a new Australian-based ground station for NASA’s Artemis program with “near-continuous communications support to lunar missions”.

In the Quad summit, which also included Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the leaders signed off on what Mr Albanese called a “positive and practical” agenda.

It included an Open Access Radio Network to boost digital connectivity in the Pacific Islands, a partnership to streamline clean energy supply chains, training fellowships for 1800 infrastructure experts, and an initiative to protect critical undersea communication cables.

While the Chinese government has claimed the Quad would dissipate “like sea foam”, Mr Biden said the group was delivering on its “vision of a free, open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific”.

“I think people are going to look back at this Quad in, God willing, 10, 20, 30 years from now and say it changed the dynamic not only of the region, but the world,” he said.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden strike historic climate deal