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.

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