Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada and green energy financier, says Australia will reach its emissions targets without interruption to energy supply.
"That has to be the case. We're not going to shut down anything … until we have ramped up the replacements," he told ABC program 7.30.
"I would say that the country's objective, over the course of the next decade to get clean energy up from about 30 per cent of the overall generation today to above 80 per cent, is achievable."
The former bank governor is now chair of Canadian asset manager Brookfield. He made a visit to Australia for the acquisition of the country's largest energy retailer, Origin Energy.
Lauding Australia's widespread adoption of rooftop solar power, he said a mix of renewable sources coupled with decreasing fossil fuel reliance would make the transition possible.
"We need wind, large scale wind to complement that. And a lot of our plan for Origin is to put in place that wind, but we also need storage capacity to help with that," he said.
"You need still an element of gas peaking generation. That is an important part of the mix."
Business needs political bipartisanship
Mr Carney laid out the scale of the global challenge.
"This is the industrial revolution at the pace of the digital transformation. That's what we're talking about," he said.
To achieve the massive shift, Mr Carney argued business needs bipartisan support from Australia's politicians.
"In any democratic system, it is entirely right that different parties will have different views … but they need to be consistent with that objective and, yes, they do need to take into account, literally, the billions and billions of dollars that are being put in place."
He told 7.30 the Albanese government's introduction of its signature energy policy, known as the safeguard mechanism, was a step in the right direction.
"We're not going to divest our way to net zero, we need to go and invest, particularly where the emissions are. And in order to have that investment, you do need clarity about the main elements of policy," he said.
When should coal-fired power generators close?
As the new owner of Origin Energy, Brookfield will oversee the closure of one of Australia's largest coal-fired power plants, Eraring, on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
It produces about a quarter of the state's electricity and is scheduled for closure in August 2025.
"We are not going to shut down Eraring until we have built the renewable and storage capacity and it's in operation such that we can responsibly do that," he said.
The freshly elected Minns government in NSW has already signalled it would consider buying back the power plant to guarantee supply.
"We shouldn't kid ourselves about extending the lives of coal plants that are aged that require capital expenditure," Mr Carney said.
"There is no way for Australia to achieve its climate objectives if Eraring continues to operate as a central part of the generation for any longer than it should."
Global energy system broken
In his role as the UN's special envoy on climate action and finance, Mr Carney has previously warned countries not to abandon their commitments to net zero because of the pressures created by the conflict in Ukraine.
He said the global energy crisis shows the current system is not working.
"It's unreliable, we just saw a demonstration of that with the war. It is unaffordable. For many households, we've seen the massive spikes in the cost of energy. It's unsustainable from a climate perspective … it's not fit for purpose," he said.
The former bank governor says the unprecedented supply shocks over the past few years, while enormously disruptive, creates opportunities.
"How much domestic production, how much of this supply chain comes to Australia, it's a judgement for how much you want here … But one of the determinants of that, by the way, is how clean the grid is and how credible it is that the grid is going to be clean."
With billions of dollars available for investment, Mr Carney says CEOs worldwide will be looking at Australia asking, "'What's the power? Is it going to be clean? How do I know it is going to be clean? Countries who were thinking ahead are very focused on that issue".
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