22/05/2020

(AU) Fossil Fuel Industry Applauds Coalition Climate Measures That Support Carbon Capture And Storage

The Guardian

Environmentalists say the Morrison government is directing emissions reduction funding to polluting companies

Chevron’s Gorgon LNG development in Western Australia. The Morrison government has agreed to 21 of 26 recommendations by an expert panel to reduce emissions, including support for CCS projects. Photograph: Ray Strange/AAP

Fossil fuel industry groups and companies have applauded new climate change measures proposed by the Morrison government, including support for carbon capture and storage developments.

The government has agreed to 21 of 26 recommendations made by an expert panel review headed by the former gas industry executive and business council president Grant King, who was asked to come up with new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at low cost.

Recommendations included paying big industrial companies to keep their emissions below an agreed limit, and allowing the government’s main climate policy, the $2.5bn emissions reduction fund, to support carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.

Angus Taylor, the energy and emissions reduction minister, said the government agreed in-principle that two publicly owned clean energy agencies, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, would be given a “technology neutral remit” – a proposal that has been interpreted as allowing more funding for projects that do not involve renewable energy.

The government’s response was welcomed by the gas and coal sectors, received qualified support from industry groups and was criticised by environmentalists, who said it directed emissions reduction funding to polluting companies and did not address Australia’s lack of an overarching climate policy.

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