Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government has agreed to push forward legislation that would allow carbon capture and storage projects to be backed by its Climate Solutions Fund and provide credits to big polluters that cut their emissions intensity.
Reuters Newsagency reports the move came in response to a report on new ways the government’s $2 billion Climate Solutions Fund could be used to curb emissions because the country remains well short of its United Nations sponsored 2030 Paris Agreement target.
Coal and gas-related projects could also be funded by the Liberal-National government through its clean energy financing agencies.
The review, led by a former energy company boss Grant King, has recommended changing the investment mandate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
The report calls for the agencies, established by the former Labor government, to be given “an expanded, technology-neutral remit so they can support key technologies across all sectors”.
The government has agreed in-principle, saying the two bodies “should provide support to the widest range of low emissions-technologies”.
Reuters reports Australia needs to cut its annual emissions to 462 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2-e) to meet its Paris Agreement target of reducing its emissions by at least 26 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
Australia’s emissions are expected, however, to fall to 511MtCO2-e in 2030 from 534MtCO2-e in 2020, according to government forecasts in December.
The government’s first carbon abatement fund, the Emissions Reduction Fund set up in 2014, committed $2.2 billion for 190 million tonnes of emissions reductions, mostly through forest plantation and landfill gas capture projects.
The $2 billion Climate Solutions Fund was announced last year.
“The Government will target dollar-for-dollar co-investment from the private sector and other levels of government to drive at least $4 billion of investment that will reduce emissions across Australia,” Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor said in a statement.
The panel producing the report recommended carbon capture and storage projects be eligible for funding and that carbon credits be given to big polluters who sharply cut their emissions intensity.
The government said today it agreed with the recommendations.
Green groups, including Greenpeace and the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, criticised the plans, saying the government would be paving the way to subsidise oil and gas producers and coal- and gas-fired power plants.
The Liberal-National government will announce what it describes as a technology investment roadmap later this year, which is expected to detail how Australia will meet its 2030 emissions-reduction targets.
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One Response
No doubt some stupid coal project. Stop cutting down all of our forests is the first step. Hydrogen is the answer for energy that will be far cheaper than coal and produces clean water when converted into electricity. These converters have been available for 30 years.