Speech to the Chintan Research Foundation - COP31 Symposium

**Check against delivery** Friends, it is an honour to join the Chintan Research Foundation. This symposium comes at a pivotal time in the lead up to Pre COP in Fiji and Tuvalu in just a couple of weeks' time. Pre COP will in turn be a vital moment in setting the COP31 agenda and building momentum on key initiatives and priorities such as electrification, access to finance and the ocean, as well of course as the importance of keeping 1.5 as close to possible as being in reach.

I’ll be talking about our priorities for this agenda more today. I am delighted that later today I will meet with my friend Minister Bhupender Yadav. Bhupender-ji is one of the world’s most senior ministers for climate change.

More than once, COP Presidents have asked Bhupender-ji and I to collaborate to co-facilitate important COP negotiations. And so, over many hours together at COPs, Bhupender-ji and I have become firm friends and partners. Bhupender-ji will again be a key and respected player at COP31 and I am delighted he is leading India’s delegation to Pre-COP, hosted by Fiji and Tuvalu with Australia’s support, so that delegates can see the impacts of climate change on island nations up close.

The high-level Indian delegation, led by Bhupender-ji, is a reflection of the importance he and the Indian Government are placing on both Pre COP and COP 31. I am so glad to be back in India India is an indispensable voice in the future of global climate and energy policy. I first visited in 1998 and have been back many times since.

Every visit reinforces India’s scale, dynamism and innovation, all of which matter to the future of the global economy and the global climate effort. I also want to clearly and strongly pay tribute to efforts of the Indian Government and people in decarbonisation. The Indian story is a remarkable one.

One to be celebrated. Since the year 2000, around 700 million people have gained access to electricity in this country. India has demonstrated ambition, targeting 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel electricity generation capacity by 2030.

And India is showing how to implement that ambition, with around 300 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel power capacity installed already. When I speak to global peers, I cite India’s examples of progress as a world leader: Your installation of 160 gigawatts of solar energy capacity – a more than 50-fold leap since 2014. India’s submission of its 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution and Biennial Transparency Report this year.

We recognise your leadership of the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, both initiatives of which Australia was a proud founding member. As the fastest-growing major economy in the world, India is showing that clean energy is not a brake on prosperity. It is a pathway to it.

As President of Negotiations for COP31, I am here to listen, to learn, and to help build the consensus needed to deliver practical outcomes. We’re working with countries to make progress across a substantial agenda, with more than 100 negotiation items and around 60 significant mandates before Parties this year. COP31 will deliver a new Just Transition Mechanism, which we are working with Parties to make practical and effective.

To achieve that, we have heard that it needs to strengthen cooperation, technical assistance, capacity building and help countries to access finance and investment. This new mechanism is important to help ensure the clean energy transition is equitable, inclusive and leaves no country or community behind. We will also look at how we can step up the way we engage on mitigation and finance, to make sure they advance from negotiations to deliver a better impact on real world action.

Which in turn can give the private sector confidence to invest, to spur research and development and to accelerate finance and investment. Of course, adaptation is a central part of our work under the Paris Agreement, and as global temperatures increase, we will need to do more to manage climate impacts and build resilience. COP31 will spur the implementation of the global goal on adaptation agreed a few years ago by piloting important technical indicators to help us understand and plan for progress.

It should affirm the critical role of climate finance and bolster our efforts to take forward our collective goals on climate finance and adaptation finance. At COP30 last year, countries tasked Australia, alongside the COP29, COP30 and COP31 Presidencies to undertake a critical report on key barriers and solutions to keep 1.5 within reach and adapt to climate impacts.

This is the Belem Mission to 1.5. We have received extensive submissions and inputs from across parties and many global industries, researchers and civil society. At the Pre-COP, we will report on some of the preliminary findings, which speak to key opportunities in renewable energy, electrification, grids and storage, as well as the importance of early warning systems and building resilience, among other issues.

From Australia’s point of view, we bring our own perspectives and experiences to our role as President of Negotiations. We are a developed economy, a major energy exporter and a Pacific nation. A country undertaking its own economic transformation, we understand the challenge of reducing emissions while growing the economy.

And we have learned some things about the role of households in decarbonisation. One in three Australian households has rooftop solar. We generate more solar energy per person than any other country.

Our country, of just 27 million people, installed 10% of the world's new batteries in March. Australia is now the third-biggest battery market in the world - behind only China and the United States. And the International Energy Agency cites Australia’s average wholesale energy prices falling by 30% the last quarter.

This occurred at the same time as our national grid surpassed 50 per cent renewable generation – not a coincidence. Our decisions have put Australia on the path to 82 per cent renewable electricity by 2030, and more importantly, given Australians the ability to take control of their energy bills – at the same time as uncertainty grows overseas. Australia's experience means we understand the opportunities and challenges of transformation.

And supporting communities through change. COP 31 will be inclusive, transparent and predictable. Australia and Türkiye are working together to deliver a global result: while we are ambitious for a strong outcome, we are determined to be as consultative as possible and bring parties with us on the journey.

Australia is working with nations around the world to make electrification and access to finance central to that consensus. And India as an important and respected member of the COP will be a key and respected partner. Foreign Minister Jaishankar recently said countries like India and Australia carry a greater responsibility in a complex world to work together on shared challenges.

He included resilient supply chains, energy security and climate action. In a more uncertain world, cooperation is not a nice-to-have. It is a strategic necessity.

We are Indo-Pacific partners. We share strong connections from our diasporas. And we are natural partners in the energy transition.

Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Modi recognised this when they launched the India-Australia Renewable Energy Partnership. It is already delivering practical outcomes. The Australia-India Rooftop Solar Training Academy in Gandhinagar will train 2,000 solar technicians in its first two years, creating opportunity for women and young people.

Prime Minister Modi has described the Australia-India relationship as focused, fast-moving and enduring. As two countries that share a love of cricket, and a healthy rivalry at the crease, it is good to know that when it comes to clean energy, we are on the same team. In addition to our commitment to net zero, we share a commitment to a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

To ensure every country can benefit, we must keep markets open, support rules-based trade and improve access to finance. We are also supporting technology commercialisation partnerships between Australian researchers and Indian manufacturers. Supporting two-way investment.

Building the skills and training needed for the new energy system. And deepening cooperation on green industrialisation. Projects like Orica’s 50 megawatt electrolyser in Newcastle show the potential for renewable hydrogen to help decarbonise industrial production.

Australia's capabilities in research and critical minerals can complement India's National Green Hydrogen Mission. Together Australia and India can develop future industries that support growth, competitiveness and decarbonisation. Australia has the industry, the expertise, the infrastructure and the potential to supply green iron — the metal the world will need to reduce emissions from steel.

A Future Made in Australia is our plan to build new industries critical to the energy transition, economic diversification and industrial development, from green hydrogen through to green metals and clean technology manufacturing. But a Future Made in Australia does not mean a future made alone. Green industrialisation requires international cooperation: on common standards, reliable markets and resilient supply chains.

The Future Made in Australia and the Make It in India program are complimentary when it comes to diversified supply chains. COPs have helped create those drivers. Through forums like the Climate Club, the Industrial Deep Decarbonisation Initiative and of course COP31, we can build the conditions for clean energy industries to thrive.

That is why we are feeding in closely to the Action Agenda, and why Australia shares a common global interest in turning climate engagement into investment, jobs and the industries of the future. That is implementation: turning shared ambition into shovels in the ground, turning investment into jobs, and turning agreements into clean power in the grid. COP31 comes against a backdrop of overwhelming evidence that climate change is impacting on us in ways long predicted.

The recent devastating floods in Nepal, in which so many Nepalese people and visitors from India and Australia and elsewhere lost their lives are an example. This is the hottest decade on record. From floods and heatwaves to droughts, wildfires, coastal erosion and rising sea levels, the evidence of the climate crisis is not just in data and journals.

Nowhere is that clearer than in Tuvalu. I have stood at the narrowest point of Tuvalu, where a few meters is all that separates the ocean from the water on the other side. Over the past three decades the ocean has risen by around 15 centimetres in Tuvalu.

This year, senior representatives will have the chance to see these climate impacts as well in advance of the Pre-COP. These events show climate change is not a future challenge. It is a present reality.

We only need to look to the warnings of an intensified El Niño to understand the scale of what lies in the year ahead. The science is clear: the impacts are accelerating. And the costs of inaction are rising.

Paris is working, but we must keep going Despite the challenges, we can see the world shifting course. When the Paris Agreement was signed, warming was heading towards 4 degrees. But that moment catalysed global action and investment.

It led to countries and businesses around the world making net zero commitments, backed up by policy platforms and institutional reform. Today, global warming is projected to be closer to 2.6 degrees. The proof is in the numbers.

Since Paris, global renewable capacity additions have increased almost five-fold. Almost half of global electricity capacity is now renewable. Global battery installations have increased twenty-fold in just five years.

And one in four new cars sold around the world is now electric. Through international cooperation, more than 80 per cent of Australia’s trading partners are committed to net zero, and net zero targets now cover the great majority of global emissions. Middle- and emerging economies continue to drive international cooperation and investment.

Paris shows why. Clear rules gave investors certainty. That certainty unlocked investment.

And that investment has bent the curve of warming. And it is why Australia’s COP31 leadership is not an abstract diplomatic exercise. It is an investment in the security and prosperity of our region and the wider Indo-Pacific.

That includes recognising the ocean as a climate regulator, an economic foundation, and a source of resilience for communities across our region. And as we shape the COP31 agenda, we must ensure the ocean is treated not as a standalone issue, but as part of the solution. COP31 – Implementation and Acceleration Friends, COP31 will be about implementation and acceleration.

Implementation means turning targets into projects, finance into infrastructure, and commitments into real-world progress. Acceleration means faster electrification, clean energy deployment, modern grids and storage. Global events make clear that economic security, energy security and international cooperation go hand-in-hand today.

The energy shock has exposed the risks of dependency: Price volatility and supply uncertainty. The lesson is not to slow the clean energy transition. The lesson has been to accelerate it.

No conflict can stop the sun shining. No disruption can stop the wind blowing. The clean energy transition is not a theory.

It is happening now, at scale, and its direction is clear. It is built on proven, scalable technologies available today. Climate agreements do not build solar farms, transmission lines or batteries.

But agreements shape investment decisions. They create the certainty and confidence that make those investments possible. Catalysed by Paris, clean energy investment last year was $2.3 trillion.

Double the global investment in fossil fuels. Clean energy jobs now outnumber fossil fuel jobs globally. Around the world there is recognition that this is more than a story about emissions.

It is a story about jobs, investment, energy security and national competitiveness. So the question for every country is not whether the transition is coming. It is how quickly we can deliver it, and whether we are ready to capture the rewards.

Acceleration – Electrification Electrification is the next chapter — and one of the clearest priorities to emerge in our consultations for COP31. We have heard that from governments, investors and businesses. Electrification is one of the most practical and cost-effective ways to strengthen energy security, improve efficiency and reduce emissions.

It means doing more of the everyday things we do with efficient electricity: in transport, industry, buildings and homes. Electrification extends the benefits of renewable energy across more sectors. Lower power bills.

More efficient industries. Cleaner air. More control for households and businesses over their energy choices.

The world is already electrifying. The International Energy Agency says electricity should be 35 per cent of final energy consumption by 2035 to keep 1.5 degrees within reach. Asia accounts for around three-quarters of growth in global electricity demand since 2000.

The region is electrifying. India is showing the way, reaching your goal of 50 per cent cumulative non-fossil fuel electricity capacity five years ahead of schedule and now targeting 60 per cent by 2035. But the world as a whole is behind where it needs to be.

We are on track globally for just 25% by 2035. We have to go faster. And electrification requires modern grids, storage and investment.

Investment follows certainty. And so we are making electrification central to COP31. Delivery – Access to Finance A defining challenge of this phase is to get finance where it’s needed most.

Australia believes the transition must be fair, practical and inclusive. At COP31, that means ensuring no country and no community is left behind. Climate action will succeed when all countries have the opportunity to participate.

Significant commitments have been made internationally. The goal of mobilising US$100 billion per year has been reached. The world has now set a New Collective Quantified Goal of at least US$300 billion per year by 2035.

And a pathway to reach US$1.3 trillion, in combined public, private, multilateral and philanthropic ambition. Here, as in other areas of climate policy, the targets have been set. The task is to deliver.

Finance is where certainty matters most. Clear commitments give investors the confidence to back projects where they are needed most. That means working with banks and climate funds, and backing regionally led solutions like the Pacific Resilience Facility.

Solutions that shield Pacific communities from rising seas and more intense disasters. That is delivery. The Pacific Our Pacific family are strong and longstanding advocates for climate action and resilience.

Because they see the impacts firsthand every day. Our partnership to deliver a Pacific Pre-COP in Fiji, with a Leaders’ event in Tuvalu, reflects both our national interest and our regional responsibility. It creates a rare opportunity to bring the world to our region.

To put the real climate impacts experienced in the Pacific at the centre of international discussions. Sea level rise. Coastal erosion.

Extreme weather. The Pacific Pre-COP will bring together leaders and delegates from over 50 countries. It will help the world understand the region's challenges and engage ahead of the decisions at COP31.

It's part of Australia's commitment to support Pacific voices shaping global decisions. Pacific priorities deserve to be front and centre. And Australia is acting to amplify them: Keeping 1.5 °C within reach.

Enhancing access to finance. And the ocean. For Pacific nations, ocean stewardship is deeply connected to both economic opportunity and culture.

The ocean and climate systems are inseparable. It is both on the frontline of climate change, and one of our greatest climate solutions. The ocean underpins food security, trade and livelihoods in our region and beyond.

A healthy ocean plays a critical role in mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. Protecting coastlines. Supporting fisheries.

Absorbing around 30 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions and around 90 per cent of excess heat from greenhouse gases. Without the ocean, climate impacts would be far more severe. Australia and the Pacific share a fundamental interest in advancing ocean stewardship.

Strengthening blue economies. Protecting reefs. And supporting coastal resilience.

At the Pacific Islands Forum last month, this was, unsurprisingly, a key topic of discussion. We have been working with the Pacific to call for an expanded role for the ocean across the UNFCCC. Because we recognise the role of the ocean as a critical climate regulator, and support the Pacific in their call for greater international support for ocean financing mechanisms.

The ocean has been a key pillar of our COP31 partnership this year with the Pacific as we work to bring attention to the intrinsic link between the ocean and climate. As we look towards November, we see four priorities. First, creating the conditions to scale blue economy solutions.

We need stronger institutions, better project preparation and closer collaboration between governments, communities and investors so that good ideas become investable opportunities. Second, scaling ocean finance. We already have proven tools, including blue bonds, blended finance and climate risk insurance.

The task now is to make those tools more accessible, particularly for Small Island Developing States and other climate-vulnerable nations. Third, driving action through the Ocean and Seas Action Agenda. This provides a platform to accelerate implementation and showcase practical initiatives, including the Blue NDC Implementation Taskforce, the Kelp Breakthrough and the Seagrass Breakthrough.

And fourth, better integrating ocean issues across the UN climate system, ensuring that ocean and water considerations are reflected more consistently across existing UNFCCC processes and decisions. Friends, Pre-COP is our moment to take the next step. As president of Negotiations, at Pre-COP I will be hosting an Ocean Plenary.

Leaders will hear directly from communities living on the frontline of climate change and see firsthand both the impacts and the solutions already being led across the Pacific. To bring attention and focus on this critical priority, and put the ocean at the centre on the global stage. Colleagues, the clean energy transition is underway.

It is driving trillions of dollars in investment in a cleaner, more secure energy future. And amid the world’s biggest energy shock, it is providing the proven alternative to dependency. That investment did not happen by accident.

Rules are giving investors certainty. Certainty is unlocking investment. And investment turns ambition into delivery.

That is the opportunity before us at Pre-COP and COP31. Electrified economies, stronger ocean and climate resilience, and modern grids and batteries, give us a practical answer: lower emissions, stronger energy security and growing economies. The opportunity is extraordinary.

Not only to avert the worst impacts of climate change, but to build stronger economies and more resilient societies along the way. Australia and India have a vital role to play. Working together, India and Australia can help accelerate clean energy deployment, strengthen resilience, and show that climate action and economic growth can move together.

We can demonstrate the power of multilateralism and industry working hand in hand. On my last visit, I said Australia and India are building: “Bharosa, maryada, gyan and kalyan.” This is also the spirit we bring to the Pacific Pre-COP and COP31. I look forward to working closely with you to make COP31 a success: practical, cooperative and focused on delivery.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.