CANBERRA, Australia (AP) 鈥� Australian and Singaporean leaders announced Tuesday what they described as a world-first agreement to cooperate in transitioning their economies to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Singapore鈥檚 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australia鈥檚 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlined their so-called Green Economy Agreement between the two countries after an annual meeting in the Australian Parliament House.
The agreement has 17 components that cover facilitating trade and investment in green services, harmonizing standards and building green growth sectors through collaboration between business.
Australia has committed to reducing its emissions to and Singapore is considering adopting the same target.
Albanese described Singapore as 鈥渙ne of the most innovative economies in the world,鈥� while Australia had the potential to become a 鈥渞enewable energy superpower鈥� due to its vast open spaces and relatively small population.
The agreement 鈥渨ill support clean energy innovation, unlock business opportunities and create jobs, and help deliver our mission鈥檚 targets while positioning Australia as a renewable energy superpower,鈥� Albanese said.
Lee foreshadowed further cooperation in cross-border electricity trade and 鈥渟ustainable aviation鈥� through what he described as the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 first such agreement.鈥�
鈥漈hese are all areas which are of interest to Singapore and to Singapore businesses and we hope with a Singapore-Australia GEA they鈥檒l be able to move forward,鈥� Lee said.
鈥淏ut we also hope with this GEA will encourage other countries to look at what we have been able to do and to ask whether some of this may not make sense to them to do with Singapore or to do with each other,鈥� Lee added.
Singapore is already planning to use solar power from northern Australia transmitted by a 4,200-kilometer (2,600-mile) submarine cable.
Singaporean company Sun Cable plans to start construction in 2024 of the 30 billion Australian dollar ($19 billion) Australia-Asia PowerLink project that will include 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of solar panels near the northern Australian city of Darwin.
Albanese described the export of Australian solar power to Singapore as an 鈥渦ltimate win-win.鈥�
鈥淚f this project can be made to work 鈥� and I believe it can be 鈥� you will see the world鈥檚 largest solar farm, you will see the export of energy across distances 鈥� (and) the production of many jobs here in Australia, including manufacturing jobs,鈥� Albanese said.
Rod Mcguirk, The Associated Press
