Anthony Albanese says 'future generations' need countries to embrace clean energy

Mr Albanese will make the call to action during a speech on Tuesday to the Sydney Energy Forum, a major federal government-hosted event bringing representatives from Indo-Pacific nations together with business and industry leaders.

"I firmly believe our willingness to work together on this issue will inspire greater ambition and action around the world," Mr Albanese will tell the forum, according to an advanced copy of the speech provided to The Canberra Times.

"This challenge demands our ambition. And future generations need us to deliver on it."

The two-day event will hear from leading figures in the international energy space, including US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol.

Mr Albanese has made re-establishing Australia's international reputation on climate action a major focus of his first weeks in power, using every opportunity to highlight Labor's ambitions compared to that of its predecessors.

He will tell the audience that Australia will once again be a "trusted global partner" on climate action, noting he planned to raise Labor's ambition to host a future UN climate summit during this week's Pacific Island Forum in Fiji.

"I am ambitious about what we can achieve together," he will say.

The new prime minister will use the address to argue that few regions have "more at stake or more to gain" from the challenge of transitioning to net zero than the Indo-Pacific, which is home to more than half of the planet's population and more than 60 per cent of global energy supply.

Stressing the need to work together and find common ground, he will urge nations to be energised, not daunted, by the scale of investment needed for the transition.

That includes a renewable energy supply about six times greater than the region's current solar and wind generation.

"Our work, here and now, will determine the quality of life for future generations," Mr Albanese is expected to say.

"It won't be easy. Each step will bring its own challenges and we will need to learn and adjust our approach as science advances and technology evolves.

"But I have no doubt that if we work tirelessly in common effort, we will achieve our common purpose."

Former chief scientist and government special advisor on low emissions technologies, Alan Finkel, will also participate in the event, having chaired its steering committee.

Dr Finkel said forums such as these were crucial because of the importance of clean energy technologies in driving the transition to net zero.

"We have to get to net zero emissions, and three quarters of the pathway to net zero will come from the adoption of clean energy technologies," he told The Canberra Times.

"Nearly three quarters of total greenhouse gas emissions comes from the use of coal, oil and gas. We have to do something that humanity's never done before. We have to replace them."

The event is being held as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to cause major disruptions across the international energy market.

The conflict was one of the factors blamed for Australia's recent east coast energy crisis, which culminated in AEMO launching an unprecedented suspension of the market.

Dr Finkel said the crisis, which he described as the worst since the oil crisis in the 1970s, had demonstrated Australia wasn't immune from international shocks.

He said the best way to shield the country from external disruptions was to invest in solar and wind, backed up by short, medium and long-term storage and other dispatchable forms of energy.