Washington critical of CCS while Canberra doubles down
The Australian Resources Minister, Madeleine King, has pledged to back carbon capture and storage (CCS) to combat climate change at the same time as the US government is slamming it for being unproven, putting Canberra at odds with Washington in the debate.
In a major speech to an oil and gas industry conference in Adelaide today, Madeleine King is pledging to back the mythical technology as a way of abating the emissions being created by Australia's massive fossil fuel export industry.
The minister has told the conference:
"Perhaps the single biggest opportunity for emissions reduction in the energy resources sector is through carbon capture and storage (CCS).
"CCS represents an opportunity for Australia if we get it right. The will is there. The know-how is there."
"To this end, and in recognition of the need to scale up CCS, the Government will shortly commence public consultation on a new round of greenhouse gas storage acreage," King said.
But her faith that the unproven, unsuccessful technology comes at the same time the US Climate Envoy and former presidential candidate John Kerry publicly denounced CCS as a pipe dream that was distracting the world from actual climate action, saying he had "serious questions."
John Kerry told the Associated Press:
"…we don't have [CCS] at-scale yet, and we can't sit here and just pretend we're going to automatically have something we don't have today. Because we might not. It might not work."
"What they're banking on is that they're going to be able to do the emissions capture," Kerry said, "I have some serious questions about whether it will be price competitive."
Friends of the Earth Australia's Offshore Fossil Gas Campaigner, Jeff Waters, congratulated the US government for injecting some sense into a debate.
"Clearly the US government is a lot smarter than the Australian one," Jeff Waters said.
"As John Kerry said, how can we possibly be staking our future, and the futures of our children, on unproven science that, in spite of decades of research and promises, has so far not been successful anywhere in the world."
"It's just spin that allows these Earth-killing, war-profiteering companies to keep polluting for profit."
Jeff Waters challenged the government to follow the US example and stop spruiking CCS as anything but an unproven theory.
"Journalists should ask Madeleine King and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen why they are bothering to implement carbon targets in Australia, when any reductions we make will be cancelled out, in an order of magnitude, by the gas and oil we are selling overseas."
