Essay by Eric Worrall
Have you ever seen John Kerry look less happy to be somewhere?
Bowen inks deal to bring big corporate bucks to Australian renewables
Anna Pradhan 23 September 2022
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A CEDI Letter of Intent was signed between the US and Australian governments, as well as nine corporations – Akamai, Amazon, Cisco, Google, Iron Mountain, Lululemon, PepsiCo, Salesforce, and Unilever.
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“By setting up a favourable market environment for investment, we are signalling to US companies that we welcome international partners to support our clean energy future,” he said.
“The Initiative also sends a signal to the world that Australia is open for business as a reliable investment as the world heads towards net zero emissions by 2050.”
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The US government press release;
Australia Commits to the Clean Energy Demand Initiative’s Goals with Corporate Partners
MEDIA NOTE
SEPTEMBER 22, 2022
Today in Pittsburgh, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry joined the Government of Australia as it signed a Letter of Intent between the Australian government, represented by Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen, and nine companies – Akamai, Amazon, Cisco, Google, Iron Mountain, Lululemon, PepsiCo, Salesforce, and Unilever – to support the clean energy transition by working to procure clean energy in Australia and around the world. Together, these companies seek to unlock between $2.2-$2.8 billion in Australia’s clean energy infrastructure arising from commercial and industrial sector operations, working together with the Australian government as part of the Clean Energy Demand Initiative (CEDI). Many of these firms are already working with their supply chain partners in Australia and confirm the desire to support their suppliers with clean energy procurement as more options become available.
CEDI serves as a platform for stakeholder engagement and country partnerships and creates a venue for companies and countries to signal investment potential in clean energy, share experiences, and support each other on policy reform that contributes to affordable and resilient energy systems that drive economic growth. Globally through CEDI, 75 interested private sector partners, representing a wide range of sectors, including technology, manufacturing, retail, and health, have indicated interest in unlocking up to $100 billion in clean energy infrastructure across 14 countries, as a complement to broader sectoral investment.
The experience and expertise of Australia’s regulators, utilities, and private sector, and the Australian government’s active engagement on regional energy security, will be valuable additions to CEDI’s efforts around the world. Australia’s policy actions – including large-scale generation credits, corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs), and renewable retail contracts – may serve as a model for other countries working to expand corporate procurement of renewable energy. Australia is a committed partner of the United States in efforts to unlock these markets globally, and its participation in the CEDI platform will help institutionalize and amplify its expertise.
Today, Australia and corporate partners have clearly signaled their support for key principles to enable corporate renewable procurement, lending considerable weight to the ongoing effort to ramp up clean energy deployment and accelerate the energy transition in support of global climate goals.
A fact sheet on CEDI is available here.
For further media information, contact [email protected].
Can you imagine taking a commitment this vague to a bank, and trying to raise a loan based on the presented information?
I think a more accurate description of events is Aussie Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen breezed into town, got a photo opportunity with Kerry, then made a lot of vague statements about all the progress he’s making securing investment for Australia’s green future.
I doubt anybody in the USA is remotely interested in buying Australian green hydrogen exports. The USA already has its own large scale green hydrogen projects.