Communism, Money Behind Net-Zero Push: Australian Senator

The sun is reflected in a solar panel in this file photo. The BLM is seeking public comment over competitive leases for renewable energy technologies on public lands. John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images

A Queensland senator has argued that money and communism are behind the push for renewable energy.

Speaking to The Epoch Times, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said that the net-zero agenda is largely pushed by two groups, Western corporations and the Chinese Communist Party.

“Those two forces coming together have proved diabolical and very hard to counter because the root of all evil is money. The second root is communism,” he said.

Senator Matt Canavan in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on July 4, 2019. Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

“So the both of them together, I think there’s an alliance here between the corporate and big communists seeking to destroy the Western industry.”

“A lot of people invest a lot of money in renewable energy, and a lot of people invest a lot in carbon credits, and they’re doing all they can to perpetuate these games.”

Race for Renewable Energy

His comments come as governments of developed nations embark on aggressive campaigns to achieve net-zero, including spending billions on building renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, and battery storage.

Over the past decade in Australia, the share of electricity generation from renewable sources has increased steadily to nearly 20 percent in 2018, while the share of electricity generation from non-renewable sources has declined from about 92 percent in 2007-2008 to under 85 percent in 2018.

Investment in large-scale renewable energy projects more than doubled within three years from 2015 to 2018, reaching over $10 billion in 2018.

The Australian Labor government has set an emissions reduction target of 43 percent by 2030, and net-zero by 2050.

China Benefits From Renewable Push

Meanwhile, this push from Australia comes despite China having the largest number of coal-fired power stations of any country in the world, with 1,110 operational coal power plants as of 2022. According to Statista, this was nearly four times the number of such power stations in India, which ranked second.

At the same time, China’s 80 percent-plus dominance in all parts of the solar panel supply chain means the net-zero push in the West will benefit China, the International Energy Agency has warned.

An investigation by The Epoch Times in April this year revealed that of the 60 biggest Australian solar farms, 70 percent of them have solar panels made in China.

Canavan also told The Epoch Times that he believed Australia shouldn’t “shut down things that work and replace them with things that might work.”

“Politicians are just being led by what they think that people want. Because we’re in democratic countries, and the most important thing for most politicians is to keep their seat and their job,” he said.

“They’ll fall into the trap of doing what people think what the latest fashion is [rather than] thinking about the long term.”