Canberra shows clean energy switch 'can be done': Andrew Barr

Mr Barr shared the territory's climate action success stories - and its ambitious targets - during a brief address to the jobs and skills summit on Thursday afternoon.

Canberra has some of the most ambitious climate policies and goals in the nation, reaching 100 per cent renewable energy in 2020 and setting its sights on banning the sale of new petrol-powered cars beyond 2035 and phasing out natural gas a decade after that.

The states, with bigger populations and high-polluting sectors such as coal, face a much bigger challenge than the ACT to decarbonise their economies.

But Mr Barr said the ACT wanted to demonstrate that it was possible to make the transition, and to do it in a manner than was fair for communities and workers.

"It can be done, and it can be done in a just way," Mr Barr told the jobs and skills summit.

"The national capital wants to show that leadership, and my offer to everyone who is interested is to partner with us in the electrification of Canberra."

Mr Barr made the comments as Labor-aligned unions and the Greens continue to ramp up pressure on the Albanese government to establish a national transition authority to support workers through the closure of coal-fired power stations and emergence of green energy industries.

Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union national secretary Steve Murphy told the summit that it was time to "return the favour" to the workers and communities which had powered the national economy for decades.

"Workers know that there is something coming, but they feel like no one has their back and no one is planning for these workers and these communities," Mr Murphy said.

Australian Services Union national secretary Robert Potter said a transition authority was urgently needed amid forecasts that two-thirds of Australia's remaining coal generation was set to shut in the next eight years.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the transition authority should be properly funded and enshrined in legislation.

The Greens also want a scheme which would see a worker who shifts from coal mining to a new industry have their wages guaranteed for a period of up to 10 years.

Mr Bandt also called for a timetable for the phasing out of coal and gas to be passed into law.

"Unless we are honest with workers and communities in these regions that coal and gas have a used-by date, and that it's coal and gas that is fueling the climate crisis, the transition is not going to be just much harder. These workers and communities are going to have further to fall," he said

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