COP28 agreement: Coal out of fashion and out of date, Australia knows it firsthand
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At the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai this week, nations agreed to transition away from coal, oil and gas. After 30 years of COP meetings, the world has finally committed to transitioning itself away from these carbon-based drivers of climate change. As Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen told the media, the agreement “sends a signal to world markets, investors and businesses that this is the new direction of travel for countries around the world.” This COP statement is the first to name and blame all carbon-based fuels for causing the climate crisis – not just coal, which has been mentioned in previous COP agreements, but also oil and gas. The deal is a collective global aspiration rather than a legally binding agreement.
Still, the idea that carbon burning – in Australia and elsewhere – could continue on a large scale beyond 2050 should be put to rest. Increasing renewable energy The statement on carbon-based fuels is important, but largely symbolic. In Australia, coal as a fuel has long been exhausted. Improved household energy efficiency has reduced energy consumption even as the economy has grown. Much of this has come at the expense of coal – a trend likely to continue as power generation moves further towards renewable energy. Solar and wind energy production have grown at astonishing annual rates over the past decade: 30% for solar and 15% for wind.
Although still a small share of total energy consumption, these growth rates suggest that solar and wind will generate more energy than coal by the end of the decade. Oil consumption in Australia, mostly in the form of imported petrol and diesel fuel, has remained largely stable over the past decade. Successive federal governments have been lukewarm about the transition to electric vehicles. But if Australia is to get close to its target of net-zero emissions by 2050, it must now tackle the transport sector, which accounted for 19% of Australia’s emissions in 2022 – more than half from passenger and light commercial vehicles. Given the absence of a domestic automotive industry in Australia, the current government’s inaction on electric vehicles is surprising.
This appears to be driven by fears of populist campaigns by the Coalition and others about the effects on motorists. Who can forget then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s claims in 2019 that electric vehicles would “take the fun out of the weekend, it’s not going to tow your trailer.” It’s not going to float your boat. It won’t get you to your favorite camping spot” – claims proven false. Also at play is the political lobbying power of the retail motor industry, which is supported by foreign car manufacturers keen to retain markets for their remaining supplies of petrol-powered vehicles. The Myth of Carbon Capture and Storage The final text also called for accelerating “zero and low emission technologies”.
Controversially, this also includes removal technologies such as carbon capture and storage, which involves capturing, transporting and storing greenhouse gas emissions from facilities such as coal-fired power stations and gas plants. The inclusion of this technology was criticized by many observers as a loophole that would allow polluting, inefficient industries to continue. But it is better understood as a symbolic concession to the coal, oil and gas industries, which have long pinned their hopes of staying in business on the idea of eliminating the carbon they emit. In fact, carbon capture and storage is a proven failure.
The Gorgon Gas Project on the Barrow Island Reserve, off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, has stored barely a third of the targeted amount of carbon, forcing proponents to buy carbon offsets instead (itself a dubious choice). Similarly, the only operational project in Canada to capture emissions from a coal-fired power plant at Boundary Dam has underperformed on carbon capture potential by a wide margin. So while carbon-capture is theoretically available as an option for new projects, in most cases it will prove either technically impossible or economically unviable.
Australia faces a choice on energy exports The COP28 statement calling for an “urgent and equitable transition to renewable energy” presents an opportunity for Australia. As Bowen acknowledged: Australia wants to be a renewable energy superpower, we want to make energy for ourselves, for our region and for the world. Today’s decision of the COP gives us a very good ecosystem in which we can develop that plan. But of course, ”that plan” is completely inconsistent with the plans of the coal and gas industries, which are announcing new projects intended to operate well into the second half of this century.
By supporting these projects, the federal government is endorsing the idea that the aspirations of the COP28 statement will remain a pipe dream, and Australia can benefit from the world’s catastrophic warming. Australia must now decide what kind of energy superpower it wants to be: home to a sustainable future, or the last resort of coal and gas extraction.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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