Australia and UK join forces to support clean energy technologies

The leaders of Australia and Britain announced on Friday that they plan to collaborate to increase the deployment and use of renewable energy technologies such as green hydrogen, offshore wind and other forms of renewable energy to help decarbonise the world.

In a joint press release, Australian Premier Anthony Albanese said that the transition to net zero will create new jobs for both countries and strengthen their industrial base.

In their statement, they did not specify how much money they would be committing to clean energy.

Albanese, after meeting Starmer at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Apia (Samoa), said: "This partnership will... build upon our longstanding cooperation regarding international climate action as well as on our shared commitment to achieve net zero emissions by the year 2050."

The two leaders have announced the recipients of their Renewable Hydrogen Innovation Partnership, which will support six industrial decarbonisation projects.

Prime Ministers said that the AUKUS Defence Pact between Australia, United States of America and Britain will boost security in Indo-Pacific.

AUKUS is a defence pact that Australia signed in 2021. It will allow Australia to buy five nuclear submarines in the early 30s, before building and operating SSN-AUKUS with Britain a decade or so later.

Albanese and Starmer have reaffirmed that they will negotiate a bilateral agreement to develop the SSN AUKUS sub.

Starmer stated that "together, we are delivering better futures to our two countries. Whether it's by protecting our national security through projects like AUKUS, or delivering on net zero commitments,"

The Commonwealth Meeting began this week, with King Charles as the leader of the 56 countries with the most roots in Britain's Empire.

Climate change is a major topic in the discussions, since more than half the Commonwealth members are small countries, and many are low-lying island nations at risk of rising sea levels due to climate change.

(source: Reuters)