ANGUS TAYLOR: I’d like to extend my greetings to colleagues joining from around the world, and my thanks to Secretary Kerry for the facilitating this meeting. 

This is a unique grouping of countries, all with diverse perspectives. 

And by working together, we can deliver on the ambition we brought to COP26, supporting the UK and Egypt for a successful COP27 in November – with a focus on delivery and realisation of ambition.

The world needs tangible action to reduce emissions – not mere words.

Ambition is good, but achievement is even better.

For our part, Australia believes that the way to drive action on a global scale is to get the cost of clean energy down to parity with existing approaches.

Every nation represented here today faces a different set of challenges – be they economic, energy or public health related.

But if we can work together to get the cost of clean energy sources down to a point where they out-compete existing energy technologies, then global action will move at a pace we can only imagine today.

That is how we make net zero practically achievable for all countries.

This year, Australia will work with our international partners across a range of key forums to drive down the cost of these technologies, accelerate deployment at scale and help our industries and communities seize economic opportunities in new and traditional markets.

That is why I’m pleased to sit as Co Vice-Chair of IEA Ministerial Meeting, to ensure the IEA is best positioned to support the clean energy transition.

It is also why Australia is backing the delivery of the Breakthroughs Agenda launched at COP26. 

A number of countries represented here today have signed on to these Breakthroughs – across the Power, Road Transport, Steel and Hydrogen sectors.

I encourage all Ministers here today to support the Breakthroughs, and to ensure that the work of the MEF aligns with these goals to ensure that ambition is translated into delivery through the use of metrics of cost, efficiency and coordination.

This is the Australian approach – by setting ambitious, but realistic, economic goals to drive decarbonisation through technology transition. 

Over the next decade, we will invest at least $20 billion in low emissions technology, which is expected to unlock at least $80 billion of total private and public investment and support 160,000 jobs.

Australia welcomes the US hosting the Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation Ministerial meetings in September. Accelerating innovation is a must for reducing costs of low emissions technology, and these are key forums for delivery. 

Australia is pleased to be leading the Clean Hydrogen and Net Zero Industries Missions to drive practical collaboration and knowledge sharing.

In June, Australia will host the first ever Clean Energy Supply Chain Summit, building a roadmap for our partners in the Indo-Pacific to ensure decarbonisation can be achieved by all.

We see this as “the year of implementation”. Australia is working in our region with Indo-Pacific partners to ensure that our cooperative efforts are focused on delivering the adaptation, finance and emissions reduction outcomes that our region needs. 

And we acknowledge the intention of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency to ensure a strong focus on decarbonisation pathways and practical solutions – including for our region. 

I look forward to working with you all this year to achieve tangible outcomes. 

Thank you.

ENDS