Australia's new prime minister vows to make nation 'renewable energy superpower'

• Australia's new head of state, Anthony Albanese, has promised to make the nation a renewables "superpower" following his Labor Party's victory in Saturday's federal election, which ousted predecessor Scott Morrison's conservative coalition.

Addressing advocates in a victory speech in Sydney, Albanese claimed: "Together we can end the climate wars. With each other we can benefit from the opportunity for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower."

He was sworn in as Australia's 31st head of state today prior to taking a trip to Tokyo for a meeting of the Quad security team, comprising Australia, India, Japan and also the United States.

In a press conference earlier today, Albanese said the conferences will certainly "send a message to the globe" that Australia's new government "stands for a modification in regards to the way that we deal with the globe on issues like climate change".

Returning to power complying with nine years in opposition, Labor is presently leading in 75 seats in the 151-seat lower house, according to the Australian Electoral Commission, while independents and also the Greens look set to win at the very least a dozen seats as candidates effectively campaigned on curbing emissions.

Ousted head of state Scott Morrison has dealt with fierce criticism for falling short to take more action to restrict Australia's emissions. While his government launched a plan last year to reach net zero emissions by 2050, research team Climate Action Tracker states the method will not attain that target, failing "by a considerable margin".

" Over almost 9 years in office, the Liberal-National government's strategy to climate action ranged from inadequate to non-existent," stated Amanda McKenzie, CEO of Australian climate modification communications organisation the Climate Council.

" Australians have been extremely clear on what they want: crucial climate action this decade. We are among the sunniest and windiest nations on earth-- the opportunities and benefits we have are off the graphes. But just if we grasp them, and fast."

Labor campaigned on a pledge to reduce Australia's emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030, compared to the Morrison administration's goal of a 26-- 28% cut.

Labor is additionally targeting 26GW of installed renewables capacity by 2030, increasing general renewable penetration to 82% in Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM), up from 68% under a business-as-usual method.

As part of Labor's Powering Australia plan, AU$ 20 billion (US$ 14.2 billion) will certainly be assigned to upgrade the nation's electricity grid so it can handle extra renewable power.

Published last year, Powering Australia includes financing for 85 solar banks that will assist provide less costly electricity for greater than 25,000 houses that are stated to be shut out of rooftop solar, like renters as well as low-income households. It additionally features a method to install 400 community batteries "to maximise the benefits of Australia's roof solar change", support the grid and also provide common storage for as much as 100,000 households.

The Climate Council has actually recommended that Labor go even more in its ambitions as it promotes Australia to cut emissions by 75% by 2030 as well as get to net zero by 2035.

Climate Council scientist Wesley Morgan stated Australia is "well-placed to be a renewables superpower", adding: "The new prime minister needs to ensure we are taken seriously on the best and also most pressing issue of our time."

Research published last month by renewables association the Clean Energy Council discovered that while renewable energy currently represents 32.5% of Australia's electricity, there has been a slowdown in financial commitments for new plants, in part as a result of grid connection challenges.