Private capital crucial for clean energy transition, says Australian treasurer

Canberra [Australia], November 2: Major investment is needed in low-emissions technologies in order for Australia to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the nation's Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Thursday.
In a speech to an economic conference, Chalmers committed to driving 225 billion Australian dollars (144 billion U.S. dollars) of investments into low-emissions technologies by 2050.
He told the conference, which was hosted by News Corp Australia, that the federal budget for the financial year 2024-25 would include measures to get private capital efficiently flowing towards the government's priorities.
Chalmers warned that without immediate decisive action, Australia's clean energy transition could "fall short" of what the country needs.
"We know further action is required to meet our targets and ensure affordability, reliability and emissions reduction," he said.
"While important building blocks are now in place and progress has been made, we will need to do even more to secure sufficient renewable energy generation, transmission and storage to meet our ambitions."
The governing Labor Party has committed to reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 43 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050.
In September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared the country has an "enormous opportunity" to become a renewable energy "superpower" and flagged new policy commitments.
Speaking on Thursday, Chalmers promised a "uniquely Australian" overhaul of industry policy to incentivize investment in low-emissions technologies.
He identified four priority areas the new policy would seek to maximize, which are refining and processing critical minerals, forging green metals, producing renewable hydrogen and supporting the manufacturing of generation and storage technologies.
Source: Xinhua