Australia plans to spend $417 million on hydrogen, carbon capture
CANBERRA: Australia’s prime minister has proposed spending an extra 539 million Australian dollars ($417 million) on hydrogen and carbon sequestration projects, seeking to burnish his government’s green credentials ahead of a climate summit to be hosted by President Joe Biden.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the money to be spent on building new hydrogen-producing hubs and carbon capture technologies would create more than 2,500 jobs while reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
“It is essential we position Australia to succeed by investing now in the technologies that will support our industries into the future, with lower emissions energy that can support Australian jobs,” Morrison said in a statement. “We cannot pretend the world is not changing. If we do, we run the risk of stranding jobs in this country, especially in regional areas,” he added.
The funding will be detailed in the government’s economic blueprint for the next fiscal year which will be made public on May 11. The spending requires Parliament’s approval.
A little over half the money would be spent on increasing the number of hydrogen-producing hubs in regional Australia from one to five. A hub is a region where hydrogen producers, users and exporters are located together.
Australia is already one of the world’s largest exporters of liquified natural gas and coal, both polluting fossil fuels. The government wants Australia to become a major global hydrogen supplier by 2030, aiming to reduce production costs to less than AU$2 ($1.54) a kilogram (2.2 pounds).
Australia is home to the world’s largest carbon capture and storage facility at Chevron’s Gorgon natural gas project on Barrow Island off its northwest coast. The project has stored more than 4 million metric tonnes (4.4 million US tonnes) of carbon emissions since it started operating in 2019. New money would be spent on accelerating the development of a new carbon capture hub and technologies.
Australia’s oil and gas industry said the investment in new hydrogen and carbon capture projects would be a massive boost for the sector. But The Australia Institute think tank described the proposed funding as disappointing.
“The announcements are a poor showing ahead of the Biden Summit when so many countries are making substantial increases in their climate action and targets in the next 10 years,” the institute’s climate and energy programme director Richie Merzian said.