E&OE….
Topics: Paris climate agreement, Clean Energy Finance Corporation mandate
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Minister, good morning to you.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Practically, what does the Paris deal mean for Australia?
GREG HUNT:
Well what it means is that for the first time all countries are involved in what I regard as a critical international environmental agreement.
Everybody now has a responsibility to reduce their greenhouse emissions – or to reduce the rate of increase in the case of some developing countries.
So it's a critical global agreement – arguably the most important environmental agreement that the world has yet seen.
And for Australia, that's good news, because it means that we can do our part knowing that others will be doing theirs.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Is Australia's part good enough, though? That aspiration of up to a 28 per cent cut by 2030?
GREG HUNT:
Well that is a very significant reduction.
We’re one of the countries that when we make our pledges, we meet and beat our targets.
We've done that once, we are about to do it a second time in the period up to 2020, and there's no doubt and no question that we're well prepared for the period to 2030.
This agreement means that it will see Australia drop from being the 14th largest emitter down to the 25th.
That is a huge downward shift in our place with regards to emissions in the world.
And on a per capita basis it’s, along with Brazil, the most significant reduction amongst any of the G20 countries.
So it's a significant role that we're playing, but others are coming with us and that's what's important for the country.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
And speaking of the G20, the Climate Institute says even if you hit 28 per cent by 2030, that would still leave Australia per capita the highest in the G20 alongside Saudi Arabia?
GREG HUNT:
Well I think what you find is that we are dropping by the equal highest amount of any G20 country.
We do start from a different place, that's a fact of life. But as I say, we drop from being the 14th largest emitter down to the 25th.
So we are not just doing our part. We are doing heavy lifting.
We are well prepared and we will meet and beat our 2020 targets and we are already on track to meet and beat our 2030 targets.
So there are significant transitions occurring in Australia. There are now going to be significant global transitions.
And this is a very good agreement. We've played a significant role and most importantly, the world, I think, is now on track to achieve an outcome which is extremely positive.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The Paris deal sets out, as you know, various review mechanisms every five years.
So is there scope and would the Government be willing to go for more ambitious targets by 2030, beyond 28 per cent?
GREG HUNT:
Well the Paris agreement has what’s called a five year review.
We argued for a five year review with the first of those being in 2020.
And perhaps unlike many countries, we've not just laid out our pathway to 2030 but we've laid out the capacity for review.
In 2017 we'll look at the progress of our domestic policies but I'm extremely confident with them.
What’s under consideration is whether or not we will then add international units and the new agreement allows precisely for that.
And my expectation is that we will have international units allowed in 2017.
And that will put us in a position so as when we approach 2020, we will be able to assess how we're going, and if further action is needed, the international units will provide that additional safety valve.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The agreement in Paris sets the scene ideally for net zero emissions by 2050.
Minister, does that effectively spell the end of Australia's fossil fuel industries?
GREG HUNT:
No, what the agreement says is net zero emissions in the second half of the century – which is in line with the position that both myself and Malcolm Turnbull had previously set out about net zero emissions before the end of the century.
And the point about net zero is that for the first time there's enormous emphasis – there has previously been some emphasis, but enormous emphasis – on this notion of not only reducing what goes up but increasing what comes down in terms of carbon sinks.
And that means improving the global rainforest cover, improving our mangrove cover because of the enormous absorption rates of CO2. So it's about the net balance.
Now the world will see a progressive transition to more renewables and less fossil fuels.
I won't put a precise timeframe on each of the elements.
But clearly the trend is more renewables, less fossil fuels but increased advocacy and increased work in the forest protection and rainforest cover – and Australia really has been one of the global leaders in that space – and also in the blue carbon space which is increasing the volume of mangroves, seagrass and salt marsh, which are actually critical forms of absorbing CO2 and reducing the ocean acidification challenge.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay you are talking about the transition to more renewables, not just here but around the world.
Was it folly therefore, Greg Hunt, for the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott to install that ban on wind farm investments which has now been overturned?
GREG HUNT:
Look, there was a draft proposal put forward.
What we've done is put in place the terms of the agreement which were reached with the Senate crossbench. So that’s now been put precisely in place.
And that's to focus on emerging technologies.
It sets out a particular emphasis on large scale solar, on storage, on offshore wind.
It's not prescriptive but it does set out clear directions – and we reached that agreement with the Senate, and that's now what's actually been put into law.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Was it damaging though even in a draft form to propose this ban on wind farm investments, given where, as you say, the world is moving?
GREG HUNT:
Look I think it's important here to say this was simply about one particular arm of government.
We have a strong Renewable Energy Target…
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
But it was – excuse me for interrupting, but it was the Government that proposed this wind farm investment at the time?
GREG HUNT:
I'm certainly not going to go into the past history.
What I will say is that we struck an agreement with the Senators. I was very involved – deeply involved in that.
The terms of that agreement have now been put into the mandate.
I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome – it's a sensible balance going forward.
We are rightly focusing on the great new emerging technologies of large scale solar, the potential for offshore wind which has been very successful in Europe in particular.
And it's not prescriptive but it does have a clear direction and it's honouring faithfully and absolutely the agreement – which was always intended – with the Senate crossbench.
We're doubling our renewables in Australia in terms of large scale renewables between now and 2020.
That is an ambitious task. It's a challenging task.
All the signs are that we will get there but we're going to have to work hard to get there.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay Minister, we will leave it there. I do have to say the climate at Mount Martha behind you looks absolutely spectacular this morning.
GREG HUNT:
Look it is a beautiful morning, sunny, windless. I would like to say I organised it but the local council has just groomed the beach for the ABC.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Oh excellent. We love their work as well. Greg Hunt, thank you very much for your time this morning.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks a lot, Michael.
(ENDS)