Australia operates a $1 billion fund to support household energy upgrades, Sebastien Salter, Director of Green Industrialisation and Climate Initiatives at Australia's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, said.
According to Report, he made the remarks on the fourth day of Baku Climate Action Week 2026 (BCAW 2026).
Salter said financial mechanisms are also being used to support banks in providing loans for building upgrades.
"It is therefore important to have these standards in place to help mobilize finance. These tools explicitly support green building loans in line with the criteria of our sustainable finance taxonomy. We have also established a $1 billion Household Energy Upgrades Fund at the national level. Through our government-backed green bank, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the fund provides $1 billion in government-backed concessional financing," he said.
Salter noted that energy ratings and disclosure requirements have been highly successful in Australia in tracking and encouraging reductions in energy intensity.
He said further expansion of these tools is expected to drive additional emissions reductions, adding that Australian experience shows strong public interest in higher levels of energy-efficiency improvements when consumers have better information.
According to Salter, financing remains complex and depends not only on the financial products available but also on how effectively consumers use them.
He said Australia has offered subsidies, zero-interest loans and other support mechanisms, although challenges remain in scaling them up.
Salter added that various approaches are being considered at the state and territory level, including property-linked financing mechanisms aimed at improving the effectiveness of funding.
He also pointed to Australia's long-standing positive experience with rooftop solar panels, noting that this had increasingly supported electrification and that similar trends were now emerging in home insulation.