The contradiction between the Australian government's solid performance on domestic renewables and its continued support for expanded coal and gas exports will be in the spotlight at this week's pre-COP climate meeting in Fiji, the Australian Conservation Foundation said.
Since 2022, the Albanese government has approved 37 new, expanded or extended coal, oil and gas mines. Globally, Australia ranks first for coal exports and equal second for gas exports. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts 58% of all new coal production will be from Australia.
If Woodside's Browse offshore gas project is approved, its lifetime pollution would be 1.6 billion tonnes, roughly equivalent to four times Australia's annual emissions.
If fracking in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin goes ahead, its lifetime pollution would be as much as 1.2 billion tonnes.
"Pre-COP shapes as a test of Australia's climate credibility," said ACF CEO Adam Bandt.
"In Fiji, the Albanese government will ask Pacific countries to trust its leadership on climate, while at home it considers approving three major new sources of climate pollution: Woodside's Browse gas project off the WA coast, fracking in the NT's Beetaloo Basin and a massive coal mine in the Hunter Valley.
"Woodside wants to drill up to 50 new gas wells next to the ecologically rich Scott Reef, critical habitat for the pygmy blue whale and green turtle, and pipe the gas to the North West Shelf processing plant before exporting it.
"No matter where Woodside's gas is burnt, it fuels heatwaves, bushfires, extreme weather and rising seas in Australia and the Pacific.
"Woodside's Browse is an economic and ecological disaster waiting to happen.
"Gas fracking in the Beetaloo would open a vast new fracking frontier, threatening vital artesian water sources and damaging the natural and cultural values of the world's largest intact tropical savannah.
"If Beetaloo fracking is scaled up to full production scale, it will unleash around 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon pollution over its lifetime - three times Australia's annual emissions."
Read: Australia's COP31 leadership test (Climate Action Network Australia)
Image: ads placed in major Fiji newspapers today by ACF and the Australia Institute
