New Australian PM Promises ‘Ambitious Action’ on Climate Change

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden attend the Quad Fellowship Founding Celebration event in Tokyo, Japan, on May 24, 2022. (Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)

Freshly minted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is pledging an ambitious climate change agenda in line with U.S. President Joe Biden, including sending foreign aid to developing nations.

Albanese met with the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue in Tokyo just days after he won the May 21 federal election.

The leaders addressed a range of issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific region and welcomed the new Australian prime minister, who took over from the centre-right Morrison government, which left a strong legacy of standing up for Australia’s values in the face of communist China’s aggressive authoritarianism—including a Beijing-instigated trade war.

Albanese has pledged to continue much of the work started by the previous government, but with an increased commitment to climate change.

“My government will take ambitious action on climate change and increase our support to partners in the region as they work to address it, including with new finance,” he said in a statement on May 24.

His government said it was the “main economic and security challenge” for the Pacific nations and would set a new emissions target of 43 percent by 2030—a major increase on the previous target of 26-28 percent.

The Albanese government would also commit to more aid funding to ASEAN and the Pacific.

“My government has already committed to a greater focus on South-East Asia, including the appointment of a Special Envoy for the region and $470 million in additional foreign aid over the next four years,” he said. “This is in addition to our increasing assistance to the Pacific by over half a billion dollars, deepening our defence and maritime cooperation, and using the power of proximity to strengthen our partnerships.”

The new prime minister’s promises are part of a suite of measures to counteract the pervasive influence of Beijing in the region, most notably the signing of a military deal with the Solomon Islands that could open the door for militarisation in the region.

Meanwhile, Albanese’s climate change initiatives come as the federal election saw the outgoing Coalition lose several inner-city seats to “teal” and Green candidates promising more aggressive action to cut emissions.

Such policies would force energy companies and businesses to completely reconfigure the energy grid and work out how to power the country’s households, businesses, public transport systems, and utilities with renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydro.

However, many of these energy sources cannot operate with the same consistency as existing coal power plants. Further, a large portion of Australian wind turbines and solar panels are actually imported from China, currently the world’s largest polluter by far.