At-a-Glance:
The United States and Australia signed the Australia – United States Net-Zero Technology Acceleration Partnership at the Sydney Energy Forum, a formal partnership to accelerate the development and deployment of zero emissions technology, and cooperate on critical minerals supply chains to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supercharging economic growth. For more read: Australia and U.S. Join Forces on the Path to Net-Zero.
Key Takeaways:
- Both countries share ambitious targets to reach net-zero by 2050.
- The two countries will work together to unlock critical advances in long-duration storage, grid integration, clean hydrogen, direct air capture, and critical minerals and materials – providing an essential opportunity to export the innovations that will accelerate the global clean energy transition.
- Cooperation will be practical, inclusive of industry, research and private sector to drive investment, trade, and development of commercial opportunities between our countries in low and zero emissions technologies and critical material that will drive them.
- Initial areas for cooperation include the development of long duration energy storage technology, as well as digital electricity grids and technology to support the integration of variable renewable energy, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide removal, including direct air capture.
Path to 100% Perspective:
Cooperation, not only across the world but on a smaller scale, should help accelerate the decarbonization journey for everyone. A key obstacle to achieving net zero in some countries is the lack of the local government’s understanding and acceptance that decarbonization can’t be achieved overnight but through careful planning and measured steps along the way. You can’t simply shut down coal-powered plants and switch completely to wind and solar because they aren’t always reliable. First, you need storage capabilities and a flexible power plant, capable of starting and stopping when needed, to ensure electricity is available.