Australia's bet on natural gas endangers its climate credentials, experts say

Reuters

2 days ago

SYDNEY, May 30 (Reuters) - Australia's approval of a 40-year extension for a huge gas project has overshadowed its bid to host a United Nations climate summit next year and tarnishes its green credentials, experts and two Pacific climate ministers said.
This week's decision by the centre-left government, which took power in 2022 with a mandate for climate reform, clears Woodside Energy's North West Shelf project to run until 2070, subject to a final review.
The step was hailed by the company and the energy industry, which see continued operation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants as a cleaner alternative to fuels such as coal.
But it was criticised by climate ministers from Tuvalu and Vanuatu, who say the project's emissions could put at risk their nations' very existence, as well as by climate scientists worried about Australia's role in global emissions.
"It's just a staggering number of extra emissions," said Malte Meinshausen, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne.
Woodside estimates the extension will pump out a further 4.3 billion tons of carbon emissions over the plant's lifetime.
That is equivalent to 200 years of combined emissions from 14 Pacific island nations, says the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, backed by 11 Pacific island nations and territories.
"This goes beyond politics," said Tuvalu's Climate Minister Maina Talia. "It is about the moral clarity to stand with those most affected by climate change."
The comment signals possible fallout for Canberra from Pacific island neighbours, such as Tuvalu and Vanuatu, in its bid to co-host the United Nations' COP31 climate summit next year with the region.
Australia projects it will cut emissions to 42.7% below 2005 levels by 2030, on the path to a globally agreed target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Gas from the North West Shelf is primarily destined for export markets, meaning that most emissions will not count towards Australia's domestic net zero target.
But Meinshausen, a contributor to past reports by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said Australia could not ignore its role in supplying fossil fuels causing global warming.
"It's like the drug dealer's excuse saying, 'Well, we sell this stuff, but somebody else burns it,'" he said.
"That doesn't work anymore in a world where you want to have a responsibility for your actions and being part of the international solution to climate change."
In a statement, Australian Environment Minister Murray Watt, who unveiled the extension on Wednesday, said he would not comment further until the review process, opens new tab was complete.
Australia sees gas as a transitional fuel on its path to full use of renewable sources of energy.
"I think the penny is starting to drop with many around the importance of gas," Woodside Chief Executive Meg O'Neill told reporters after the decision.
Extending the project has been a politically sensitive issue for the incumbent Labor Party, which was seen as hostile to gas when it took power but has since warmed to the industry.
The decision was delayed until after a state election in Western Australia and a federal poll won decisively by Labor, which took seats from the environmentalist Greens, who had strongly opposed extension of the project.
A regional diplomatic bloc of 18 countries, the Pacific Islands Forum, is backing Australia's bid to co-host the U.N.'s Conference of the Parties COP31 climate summit next year, with a decision seen imminent, despite some critical views.
Before the project decision, Talia had called for Australia to block the extension if it wanted to co-host COP31 with the Pacific.
After the decision, Vanuatu Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu called the extension "a slap in the face" for Pacific island nations, while speaking to Australian state broadcaster ABC.