During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in San Francisco, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. Fink, who is also on the board of the World Economic Forum and Council on Foreign Relations, welcomed the prime minister and discussed Blackrock’s significant investment in Australia. They spoke specifically about the Waratah Super Battery, the largest grid-scale battery project in the southern hemisphere. Fink leads the world’s largest asset manager with over US$9 trillion worth of assets under his management. The Albanese Labor Government has provided $100 million for the battery via a Clean Energy Finance Corporation equity investment. The total estimated cost of the battery is $1 billion, with the majority of the funds coming from a BlackRock institutional capital raise.
In his visit, Albanese also met with California Governor Gavin Newsom and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They discussed the “reality of climate change”, as well as Australia’s upcoming summer season that presents increased bushfire dangers. The leaders also adopted a work plan on a Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and California on climate change.
Fink’s commitment to renewable energy investments was also a topic of conversation during the APEC summit in California. Mr. Albanese said Australia is “becoming a renewable energy superpower” thanks to the “certainty” of net-zero emission legislation, which has encouraged significant investments in the field. Both Australia and Canada, the prime minister added, have the critical minerals and resources to drive the global transition to cleaner energy economies.