A greener shared future: Bowen speaking to journalists from South-East Asia during an interview in conjunction with the Asean-Australia Special Summit International Media Visit at his office in Canberra.
CANBERRA: Australia wants to become a renewable energy superpower by helping countries in the region decarbonise and sharing its green hydrogen and renewable energy.
Its Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said South-East Asia’s economic growth is driving energy demand and thus, Australia aims to help the region transition to renewables to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“It’s important to recognise that our country only contributes 1% of the world’s emissions.
“Our significant contribution lies in assisting other nations with their decarbonisation journey by sharing our expertise in green hydrogen and other renewable energy sources.
“We hope that every country can benefit from our plans to be a renewable energy superpower,” he said in an interview with a group of South-East Asian journalists during the Asean-Australia Special Summit International Media Visit to Australia recently.
Journalists from Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Timor-Leste spoke with Australian officials, academics and leaders during the nine-day media visit.
Australia is celebrating its 50 years of links with Asean this year.
The media visit was a build-up to the special summit to be held in Melbourne from March 4 to 6, which Asean leaders will attend.
Bowen spoke about the potential export of green hydrogen, which offers a promising avenue for countries to transition away from natural gas and embrace sustainable alternatives.
While climate change and energy have become the most important issues facing the planet, Bowen said Australia recognises the different challenges and opportunities each country faces in its decarbonisation journey.
“Australia is doing something with each country in energy and climate. Every country has barriers because we’re on a very fast trajectory for decarbonisation. It’s the biggest economic change most of our countries have ever undertaken since colonisation.”
He added that every country has opportunities and “the key is working together to finalise what to best tackle”.
Bowen said climate financing and investment in climate infrastructure commitments for developing countries will be a key area during the special summit.
“We’ve been very vocal in saying the world’s financial institutions are meant to do much better.”
The Asian Development Bank, he said, is considered the best in climate financing, while the World Bank has been criticised but is making an effort to improve.
“We’ve increased climate financing and have important bilateral arrangements with several countries in the region in terms of joint financing new initiatives.
“We also need to look at the financing of adaptation, as both aspects are important in addressing these challenges.”
To a question, he said Australia is allocating A$50mil (RM155.9mil) towards renewable energy manufacturing in the region to incentivise countries to produce solar panels inverters and batteries locally.
“Under Asean, we have a new comprehensive strategic partnership on the regional efforts to transition to net zero, as well as a range of bilateral arrangements.”
In its comprehensive strategic partnership with Malaysia, Bowen said Australia is collaborating with the Environment and Water Ministry to develop the Malaysian Greenhouse Gas Information Management System (GHG-IMS).
The ministry’s inventory and technical experts will draw on Australia’s experience and expertise to build, test, and commission the GHG-IMS.
This system will be based on the Australian Greenhouse Gas Emission Information System and customised to Malaysia’s national GHG inventory requirements.
While South-East Asia is going through massive economic growth, Bowen noted that “economic growth equals energy demand growth”.
“The International Renewable Energy Agency said (in its findings) that all of South-East Asia’s energy growth needs could be catered for by renewables.
“But this is only if we build and invest (in renewable energy infrastructure). Otherwise, it’ll be (reliance) on coal and gas, which worsens emissions.”
He said South-East Asia represents huge and growing energy users.
“It’s a wonderful thing. But we want to see it powered by renewables,” he said.
Replying to a query, Bowen said Australia believes in balancing the need for industries like mining and fossil fuel production with investing in climate change mitigation.
He said Australia’s fossil fuel economy is an advantage that provides a unique perspective, allowing it to advocate for the phase-out of fossil fuels.
“We need to prepare our regions that rely on coal mining for a change.
“As 80% of our trading partners are committed to achieving net zero emissions, the demand for coal will gradually decrease over time.
“We should be honest about that with coal-mining communities, and say, ‘Listen, people are buying coal now, but they’re not going to be buying coal in 30 years, so we need to get you ready by creating new jobs’,” he said.
