As the Albanese government seeks to turn fossil fuel-heavyAustralia into a “renewables superpower”,Combet’s new job will be to chair the Net Zero Economy Agency,a body set up to help co-ordinate the transition.
Combet said he could not say too much about his upcoming job,but confirmed it would involve working closely with investors and big businesses to help fund decarbonisation,which he described as “quite a historic economic challenge for Australia”.
“It’s a huge transformation that’s required,and it will need the mobilisation of a lot of capital,” he said in an interview. “I don’t think that’s all going to be taxpayers’ investment by any means.”
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“And so,forging the ways in which private capital and governments can work together to mobilise that investment and create jobs and grab the opportunities that are there,in a clean economy and a cleaner international economy – that’s a significant part of the work,I think,for me in the new role.”
Governments are also providing hefty subsidies to attract capital for the green transformation,with this year’s budget announcing a$2 billion program to expand the hydrogen sector.
There are already large amounts of private capital pouring into green energy,with high-profile backers including billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes andAndrew Forrest,while financial powerhouses such asMacquarie Group have also called out the potential from decarbonisation.