By Mike Foley
Controversial large-scale carbon capture and storage technology will now be rewarded under the federal government’s scheme to incentivise the reduction of industrial emissions.
The Emissions Reduction Fund awards credits to entities that cut their pollution by employing one of the approved techniques and Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor announced on Friday carbon capture had been added to the list.
Techniques already approved include soil carbon sequestration, avoided land clearing, emissions capture from landfill, improvement to heavy transport efficiency, and fugitive gas capture in mining. Carbon credits are either bought back by the government or sold to industrial polluters who want to offset their greenhouse emissions.
Mr Taylor said carbon capture and storage was crucial to the government’s technology road map, which invests public funds to lower the cost of cleaner technologies. Commercialising carbon capture would help Australia expand its gas exports and promote hydrogen production from fossil fuels, he said.
The technology prevents carbon dioxide pollution from being released into the atmosphere and, if it’s a large-scale project, pumps it underground into a geological formation.
“[Carbon capture and storage] is a priority under the government’s technology investment road map and the new ERF method will incentivise emissions reductions from a range of energy-intensive sectors including LNG production, which currently accounts for around 10 per cent of Australia’s emissions,” Mr Taylor said.
“Our north Asian trading partners are relying on gas to reduce their emissions and provide affordable and reliable energy to power their economies.”
The Greens and environmental groups oppose funding for carbon capture and storage because it would direct taxpayer dollars to fossil fuel companies and delay the massive research and development push needed to switch heavy industry to clean fuel sources.
However, the UN climate science agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency say carbon capture is needed now to start reducing the pollution from difficult-to-abate industrial processes like cement production.
Mr Taylor said carbon capture would also “support the production of clean hydrogen from existing energy resources like coal and gas”.
Hydrogen produced with energy from coal or gas is known as blue hydrogen and is controversial because climate action advocates argue it’s a lifeline to extend fossil fuel extraction. They argue green hydrogen, produced with renewable energy, is the only acceptable option.
The federal government announced $250 million in funding for carbon capture on Thursday, including $100 million to help build shared carbon capture hubs and $150 million for research and commercialisation of the technology.
Mr Taylor also announced the government will next year approve five new emissions reduction techniques eligible for ERF credits, after consultation. On the list are transport, hydrogen for energy generation, various agriculture practices, recycling of captured carbon for industrial uses and updated rules for savanna fire management.
Under the electric vehicle technique, companies that invest in electric vehicle charging or refuelling stations for hydrogen cars would earn credits for the emissions savings generated by replacing petrol with cleaner fuel sources.
Successive governments have together committed $4.5 billion to the ERF since the fund was established in 2013 and carbon pollution saved under the scheme is not counted towards Australia’s national emissions budget.
Earlier this month Australia’s clean energy investment arm announced it would fund carbon capture and storage projects. The move followed the federal government’s change to the remit of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency in August.
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