Australia and China Moving Forward on Energy

National efforts will form the basis for an international agreement on climate change in 2015 according to Terry Townshend from Global Legislators Organisation (GLOBE International). Both Australia and China, two important players at the United Nations climate change talks, have recently envisaged strong renewable futures at a national level.

The Australian Energy White Paper released recently draws a roadmap for the growth, and eventual dominance, of our renewable sector. It projects that renewable energy could provide forty percent of Australia’s renewable energy by 2035 and 85 percent by 2050. This transformation will largely be funded by the Government’s Clean Energy Future Plan. The Plan includes the carbon price to drive investment in renewables and the Renewable Energy Target (RET) which allocates at least twenty percent of the energy market to electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

Likewise, developing countries are also rolling out national schemes for energy transformation. According to Townshend despite a difficult economic climate, there has been a great deal of activity in emerging economies. “Some of this is being triggered by vulnerability, so the need to increase resilience, but many also see investing in clean energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy as an investment in sustainable development.”

In China, renewable energy is not just about turning away from coal to reduce carbon emissions – it is about security. China has long been plagued with large-scale power black outs which have generated fears of “electricity insecurity.” Concurrently, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis there is also the strong sense that energy self-sufficiency is pivotal to safeguarding China against possible ripple-on effects of global economic upheaval. Under China’s 12th Five Year Plan explicit CO2 reduction targets have been included for the first time, reflecting the changing attitude towards the renewable energy sector as an area where China could gain a “first mover advantage”. Particularly impressive is that in China’s White Paper the State Grid Corporation of China has launched its “strong and smart grid” initiative that secures distribution of large scale wind and solar generated energy across the country. Additionally, Associate Professor Ding Ding of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy reports that under China’s National Action Plan, China hopes to secure 40-45 percent of its total energy from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The importance of national legislation has been touted by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres also who said in Rio “domestic legislation is critical because it is the linchpin between action on the ground and the international agreement.” This can be seen in Australia and China’s evolving energy partnership. Their shared commitment to the burgeoning renewable energy sector has resulted in a number of collaborative projects which are hopeful indicators of future regional efforts.

One of the most significant and exciting examples of China-Australia partnership to date is Australia’s small-scale power solar photovoltaic (PV) market. PV was not expected to rank in the energy mix of 2020, let alone become a commercially viable player. This was only possible because of investment from Chinese firms. The Southern Cross Renewable Energy Fund has also been established. It contains $200 million of both Australian and Chinese funding dedicated to driving “the development of emerging renewable technologies.” The fund allocated its first $1.5 million recently to commercializing the anti-reflective coatings on solar panels.  Another initiative in the works is the AusShina Energy Group which aims to create $3 billion of wind and solar power plants in Australia, and expects the renewable energy produced to be competitive with coal within the decade.

In this new era of regional cooperation, Australia and China now have a unique opportunity to use the established industries and technologies of Australia, coupled with Chinese investments, to break into the rapidly growing renewable energy industry. The two countries national efforts and their flow on to regional development showcases how binding national frameworks are the bedrock upon which an international agreement will be built.

China and Australia should see this success and leverage their economic and technological power to shape an international agreement that places renewables at the forefront of climate change mitigation.

By Sophie Trevitt, photo by Laura Owsianka.