Latest news with #WoodsideEnergy
The Guardian
17 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Australia's emissions up slightly in 2024 as Labor faces heat over ‘climate-wrecking' gas project
Australia's climate-heating emissions increased fractionally last year as pollution from fossil fuel power plants rose for the first time in a decade, and domestic air travel and use of diesel-powered cars and trucks hit record highs. The jump in emissions was small – just 0.05% – due to falls in pollution from other sectors. But the direction was at odds with the Albanese government's pledge to cut pollution to reach targets for 2030 and 2050. The data was released on Friday, two days after the environment minister, Murray Watt, announced he planned to approve a 40-year life extension for one of Australia's biggest fossil fuel developments – Woodside Energy's North West Shelf liquified natural gas (LNG) processing facility in the Pilbara. Based on the Burrup peninsula, in Murujuga country, the North West Shelf is Australia's third biggest industrial polluter, responsible for about 1.4% of the country's annual climate pollution. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has rejected concerns about the facility's emissions continuing for decades after 2050, saying the national goal was 'net zero, not zero', implying ongoing fossil fuel use could be justified by using a contentious carbon offset scheme. His comments echoed language used in 2021 by the Coalition's then emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, when defending climate policies under Scott Morrison. The quarterly greenhouse gas inventory said the increase in national emissions last year may be short-lived, with preliminary data suggesting they fell in the first quarter this year. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as a free newsletter Emissions last year were estimated to be 446.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide, 0.2m tonnes higher than in 2023. The increase is largely due to pollution from electricity generation rising by 2.2%, reversing a 10-year trend. Australians used more electricity overall, and there was less hydro power available than usual during winter. Solar use was up, but the extra demand was otherwise met by more coal and gas. Initial data for the March quarter suggest the long-term trend of pollution from electricity falling should restart this year. This has been backed by a separate report by the Australian Energy Market Operator. At the end of last year emissions from power generation was 23.7% lower than in 2005. Experts expect it to continue to fall as a government underwriting program announced in November 2023 supports an influx of new large-scale solar, wind and batteries. But emissions from transport continue to surge as Australians fly more and burn more diesel in bigger cars and trucks. Pollution from the transport sector was up 1.9% last year. It has skyrocketed 20.8% since 2005. Vehicle efficiency standards introduced last year require auto companies to reduce the average pollution from new cars each year, but they are expected to only gradually affect total transport emissions. Government officials estimated national pollution was 27% below 2005 levels, largely due to a change in the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the land and forests. The Albanese government has a legislated target of a 43% cut by 2030 and has promised a 2035 target later this year. The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said Labor was on track to reach the 2030 target but there was 'more to do' to get there. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion 'Industrial emissions are now lower than they were during Covid-19, even as the economy has recovered,' he said. 'We need to keep going, and ensuring we're delivering downward pressure on emissions across the economy.' The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said Labor had failed two climate tests: pollution was going up, and it had approved the 'climate-wrecking North West Shelf dirty gas extension'. 'During the last term of parliament Labor approved over 30 new coal and gas projects and it doesn't look like they're slowing down any time soon,' she said. Albanese this week defended the North West Shelf extension by saying gas was needed along with batteries and pumped hydro storage to 'firm' renewable energy generation in the electricity grid. The government's target is that 82% of electricity will come from renewable energy by 2030. 'You can't have renewables unless you have firming capacity. Simple as that,' Albanese said. 'You don't change a transition through warm thoughts.' Asked about the WA development, Albanese said the Tomago aluminium smelter in New South Wales' Hunter Valley relied on gas to firm renewable energy, and WA's main electricity grid would become more reliant on gas as the state closed its remaining coal-fired power plants. The prime minister did not say how much gas from the facility was destined to be used in Australia. According to analysis of recent data, the overwhelming bulk of the gas produced on the North West Shelf and elsewhere in WA – 81% – was exported. Another 7% was used by the gas industry as part of the production process. About 8% was used for gas-fired electricity generation in WA. None was used at Tomago. Critics have challenged the economic and climate basis for a decades-long extension of the processing facility's life. Alex Hillman, from the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility and a former Woodside Energy climate change adviser, said analysts from the International Energy Agency had projected the world was heading for an 'LNG glut' later this decade. 'There is no commercial justification to add further LNG supply, and there is certainly no climate justification,' he said. 'Whilst there is major flooding in New South Wales and a major drought in South Australia, these are emissions that are going to cause Australians and investment portfolios further harm as the physical impacts of climate change increase.'
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Australia's bet on natural gas endangers its climate credentials, experts say
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.
The Age
a day ago
- General
- The Age
A prince, traditional owners and a ‘carbon bomb': Inside Woodside's extension plans
When Prince Charles toured Murujuga on Western Australia's north-west tip with Ngarluma man David Daniel in 1994, he passed antiquities older than Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Tower of Jericho combined. Home to more than 1 million petroglyphs, or carvings, Murujuga – which documents 47,000 years of human history – hosts the largest collection of rock art in the world. Among them are engravings of spirits, humans and animals including thylacines, extinct on the Australian mainland for more than 2000 years. Traditional owners describe Murujuga as a living library, which – for those who know how to read the rocks – tell stories about earthly and spiritual realms, men's and women's business, and even how to butcher a kangaroo. Less than 10 kilometres away, on the opposite edge of a vast flat that once served as a meeting place, is Woodside's vast Karratha gas processing plant. On Wednesday, newly minted Environment Minister Murray Watt gave preliminary approval to the Woodside Energy's bid to extend the life of its North West Shelf project – comprising a vast network of offshore oil and gas infrastructure and the onshore gas processing hub in Karratha – until 2070. The Climate Council said the decision locked in more than 4 billion tonnes of climate pollution – equivalent to a decade of Australia's annual emissions – and would 'haunt' the Albanese government. Hours before Watt announced he had given preliminary approval to Woodside's expansion plans, it was revealed the United Nations intends to deny an Australian bid for Murujuga's ancient art to be given World Heritage status, due to the impacts of Woodside's 'degrading acidic emissions' on the petroglyphs. UNESCO instead recommends the 'total removal' of emissions from the area and urged the Australian government to 'prevent any further industrial development adjacent to, and within, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape'. For its part, Woodside said the decision would allow the oil and gas giant to continue to produce LNP for domestic and export markets while markets 'decarbonise' from coal. The project, it maintains, is critical to securing jobs and gas supply. Executive vice president Liz Westcott said the North West Shelf project had paid more than $40 billion in royalties and taxes since the start of operations in 1984. 'This proposed approval will secure the ongoing operation of the North West Shelf and the thousands of direct and indirect jobs that it supports,' she said. 'This nationally significant infrastructure has supplied reliable and affordable energy to Western Australia for 40 years and international customers for 35 years and will be able to continue its contribution to energy security.' The project is a major employer in the state, supporting 900 direct jobs and about 1300 contractor positions. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described gas as a 'firming capacity' to support the transition to renewables. But the project's extension has been staunchly opposed by conservationists, climate scientists and traditional owners. Climate councillor Greg Bourne, a former North West Shelf manager with BP, said 4 billion tonnes of greenhouse emissions would be generated by the project over its lifespan – equivalent to a decade of Australia's total emissions. 'Extending the North West Shelf will haunt the Albanese government,' he said. 'They've just approved one of the most polluting fossil fuel projects in a generation, fuelling climate chaos for decades to come.' Climate scientist Bill Hare described the government's decision as extreme, and said it underscored a disconnection between the federal government's efforts to curtail domestic emissions and its support for ongoing fossil fuel exports. 'I think it [sends] a destructive message, actually, because the world is trying to stop the warming, and then we go and make a huge decision as a country to continue adding to this problem for 50 years,' he said. 'Country is crying out' More than 30 years after Prince Charles walked through Murujuga's living library, David Daniel's daughters, Ngarluma/Yindjibarndi traditional owners Regina and Kaylene Daniel, are also speaking up for this sacred space. 'You can feel the Country hurting; you can sense it,' Regina said. 'Our mum would say Murujuga was like a big library for us. It is a library. It is our library, our stories. It's our next generation's story to pass on to the next generation. We don't want to destroy it. We want it protected.' Kaylene said the sisters had watched the destruction of sections of Murujuga, on the Burrup Peninsula, when Woodside's Karratha plant was constructed in the 1980s. 'We've seen the way the Country used to be … where the construction and the building is now, we used to get bush tucker, bush medicine ... you used to see kangaroos out there.' In the 1980s, when Woodside constructed its Karratha plant, thousands of petroglyphs were bulldozed to make way for the facility. It's a memory that pains Regina and Kaylene, who describe Woodside's promise of more jobs for the region as 'more jobs for more destruction'. 'When you get connected to Country ... Country tells you,' Regina said. 'Country is crying out for help.' Woodside has long harboured ambitions to expand its gas operations in the resource-rich north-west of the state, seeking for years to develop the Calliance, Brecknock and Torosa gasfields in the Browse Basin, 425 kilometres north of Broome, and pipe gas to an onshore hub for processing. In 2013, a Woodside-led consortium was forced to abandon ambitious plans for a gas hub at James Price Point in the Kimberley region to produce gas from the Browse Basin, after the Supreme Court of WA upheld a legal challenge by Goolarabooloo traditional custodian Richard Hunter and the Wilderness Society. After the James Price Point proposal collapsed, Woodside turned its sights to Karratha – about 900 kilometres from the Browse Basin – to process the untapped reserves. The North West Shelf extension approval paves the way for this to happen. In December, West Australian Premier Roger Cook's government gave its approval to the North West Shelf extension, subject to a raft of conditions, including that Woodside review its measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions within 12 months of the approval, and then on a five-yearly basis. The oil and gas giant would also be required to lodge a new marine management plan before 2026, document its environmental performance, monitor air quality and consult Murujuga traditional landowners. Watt's preliminary approval of the project is also subject to what he described as 'strict conditions'. But the precise conditions will not be revealed until the post-approval statutory 10-day time frame for Woodside to make comment on the conditions has run its course. Critics say the 45 additional years the project is set to operate threaten to undermine Australia's commitments under the Paris Agreement to limit dangerous climate change. The Climate Council points out the forecast emissions from the North West Shelf project (90 million tonnes per year) would be higher than New Zealand's annual output in 2023 of 76.4 million tonnes. Emeritus Professor Alex Gardner, an environmental law expert with the University of Western Australia, said about 90 per cent of emissions emanating from the project would be sent offshore. Australia could not absolve itself of responsibility for these emissions, he said. 'Every tonne of CO2 emitted, regardless of when or where, leads to the same warming,' he said. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, released in 2023, showed the existing 'carbon budget' – before the world reached 1.5 degrees of global warming above pre-industrial levels – had already been spent. 'Projected CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure without additional abatement ...would exceed the remaining carbon budget for 1.5 [degrees],' he said. 'All the things that are in place now, if you burn all that fossil fuel, will exceed 1.5 … the world's authority on climate change science has said we don't need any new gas fields.' As the deadline for Watt's decision neared, environment groups and advocates launched desperate attempts to slow the process. On May 23, traditional custodian Raelene Cooper lodged legal action in the Federal Court seeking to compel Watt to decide on her application for a cultural heritage assessment for Murujuga, under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. Her application had been sitting with the federal government for more than three years. 'I am furious that the minister would make a decision to lock in ongoing and irreversible damage to my country before addressing my application,' Cooper said before Watt's announcement on Wednesday. 'I am sickened that the minister would make such a decision without even paying us the respect of coming here to meet with the custodians of this place, and without even seeing the incredible Murujuga rock art with his own eyes. 'The minister does not even have the respect to come and see for himself what he will be allowing Woodside to destroy.' Speaking after the decision, Cooper said: 'See you in court.' 'Degrading acidic emissions' The federal government formally nominated Murujuga National Park for World Heritage status in 2023, in recognition of the 5000-hectare site's cultural significance. Loading But that nomination was dashed this week, when the agenda for UNESCO's July meeting went online, revealing the United Nations is poised to knock back Australia's application for World Heritage listing for the Murujuga rock art. Instead, the body recommended Australia attend to the 'total removal of degrading acidic emissions' that are affecting the rock carvings, or petroglyphs. The largest source of emissions is Woodside's North West Shelf gas processing facility, which is less than 10 kilometres from between 1 million and 2 million petroglyphs. 'The current system isn't delivering' Karratha, like so many other towns in the far reaches of Western Australia, is a mining centre. To get here from Perth means walking past airport gate after airport gate filled with a sea of high-vis-wearing workers. On the early morning flight, about 90 per cent of the passengers are men, and most wear the fluoro yellow or orange uniforms of the major companies running west coast industries. Watt's decision on Woodside's future here has been welcomed by the oil and gas industry, which describes the North West Shelf as a critical economic driver in the region. But in nearby Roebourne, home to many traditional owners, the economic benefits of this juggernaut are thin on the ground. In 2013-17, the median age of death in West Pilbara was just 55 years compared with 80 across Western Australia. At the 2021 census, 28.5 per cent of residents in Roebourne were in the labour force, compared with 63.9 per cent of West Australians. 'The data highlights a stark contrast between the substantial wealth generated by industry in the Pilbara and the continued socio-economic challenges faced by Ngarda-Ngarli [Aboriginal] communities,' Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation chief executive Sean-Paul Stephens said. 'While industry is thriving, too many of our members are still grappling with the basics – life expectancy remains alarmingly low, and families often rely on food rescue programs to get by. This tells us that the current system isn't delivering equitable outcomes.' Watt spent much of his second week in WA dealing with the two biggest issues of his portfolio: Woodside's expansion plans and the government's nature positive laws. Loading He told ABC radio in Perth last week that he saw his role as serving a dual purpose. 'The way I see my role is ... to be the guardian of the environment and to oversee the regulation of our environmental laws when it comes to projects,' he said. 'But also part of my job is to help facilitate sustainable economic development going forwards. We know that WA in particular relies very heavily on the mining and resources sector. And we do want to see projects go ahead but in a way that doesn't irretrievably damage our environment.'
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
A prince, traditional owners and a ‘carbon bomb': Inside Woodside's extension plans
When Prince Charles toured Murujuga on Western Australia's north-west tip with Ngarluma man David Daniel in 1994, he passed antiquities older than Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Tower of Jericho combined. Home to more than 1 million petroglyphs, or carvings, Murujuga – which documents 47,000 years of human history – hosts the largest collection of rock art in the world. Among them are engravings of spirits, humans and animals including thylacines, extinct on the Australian mainland for more than 2000 years. Traditional owners describe Murujuga as a living library, which – for those who know how to read the rocks – tell stories about earthly and spiritual realms, men's and women's business, and even how to butcher a kangaroo. Less than 10 kilometres away, on the opposite edge of a vast flat that once served as a meeting place, is Woodside's vast Karratha gas processing plant. On Wednesday, newly minted Environment Minister Murray Watt gave preliminary approval to the Woodside Energy's bid to extend the life of its North West Shelf project – comprising a vast network of offshore oil and gas infrastructure and the onshore gas processing hub in Karratha – until 2070. The Climate Council said the decision locked in more than 4 billion tonnes of climate pollution – equivalent to a decade of Australia's annual emissions – and would 'haunt' the Albanese government. Hours before Watt announced he had given preliminary approval to Woodside's expansion plans, it was revealed the United Nations intends to deny an Australian bid for Murujuga's ancient art to be given World Heritage status, due to the impacts of Woodside's 'degrading acidic emissions' on the petroglyphs. UNESCO instead recommends the 'total removal' of emissions from the area and urged the Australian government to 'prevent any further industrial development adjacent to, and within, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape'. For its part, Woodside said the decision would allow the oil and gas giant to continue to produce LNP for domestic and export markets while markets 'decarbonise' from coal. The project, it maintains, is critical to securing jobs and gas supply. Executive vice president Liz Westcott said the North West Shelf project had paid more than $40 billion in royalties and taxes since the start of operations in 1984. 'This proposed approval will secure the ongoing operation of the North West Shelf and the thousands of direct and indirect jobs that it supports,' she said. 'This nationally significant infrastructure has supplied reliable and affordable energy to Western Australia for 40 years and international customers for 35 years and will be able to continue its contribution to energy security.' The project is a major employer in the state, supporting 900 direct jobs and about 1300 contractor positions. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described gas as a 'firming capacity' to support the transition to renewables. But the project's extension has been staunchly opposed by conservationists, climate scientists and traditional owners. Climate councillor Greg Bourne, a former North West Shelf manager with BP, said 4 billion tonnes of greenhouse emissions would be generated by the project over its lifespan – equivalent to a decade of Australia's total emissions. 'Extending the North West Shelf will haunt the Albanese government,' he said. 'They've just approved one of the most polluting fossil fuel projects in a generation, fuelling climate chaos for decades to come.' Climate scientist Bill Hare described the government's decision as extreme, and said it underscored a disconnection between the federal government's efforts to curtail domestic emissions and its support for ongoing fossil fuel exports. 'I think it [sends] a destructive message, actually, because the world is trying to stop the warming, and then we go and make a huge decision as a country to continue adding to this problem for 50 years,' he said. 'Country is crying out' More than 30 years after Prince Charles walked through Murujuga's living library, David Daniel's daughters, Ngarluma/Yindjibarndi traditional owners Regina and Kaylene Daniel, are also speaking up for this sacred space. 'You can feel the Country hurting; you can sense it,' Regina said. 'Our mum would say Murujuga was like a big library for us. It is a library. It is our library, our stories. It's our next generation's story to pass on to the next generation. We don't want to destroy it. We want it protected.' Kaylene said the sisters had watched the destruction of sections of Murujuga, on the Burrup Peninsula, when Woodside's Karratha plant was constructed in the 1980s. 'We've seen the way the Country used to be … where the construction and the building is now, we used to get bush tucker, bush medicine ... you used to see kangaroos out there.' In the 1980s, when Woodside constructed its Karratha plant, thousands of petroglyphs were bulldozed to make way for the facility. It's a memory that pains Regina and Kaylene, who describe Woodside's promise of more jobs for the region as 'more jobs for more destruction'. 'When you get connected to Country ... Country tells you,' Regina said. 'Country is crying out for help.' Woodside has long harboured ambitions to expand its gas operations in the resource-rich north-west of the state, seeking for years to develop the Calliance, Brecknock and Torosa gasfields in the Browse Basin, 425 kilometres north of Broome, and pipe gas to an onshore hub for processing. In 2013, a Woodside-led consortium was forced to abandon ambitious plans for a gas hub at James Price Point in the Kimberley region to produce gas from the Browse Basin, after the Supreme Court of WA upheld a legal challenge by Goolarabooloo traditional custodian Richard Hunter and the Wilderness Society. After the James Price Point proposal collapsed, Woodside turned its sights to Karratha – about 900 kilometres from the Browse Basin – to process the untapped reserves. The North West Shelf extension approval paves the way for this to happen. In December, West Australian Premier Roger Cook's government gave its approval to the North West Shelf extension, subject to a raft of conditions, including that Woodside review its measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions within 12 months of the approval, and then on a five-yearly basis. The oil and gas giant would also be required to lodge a new marine management plan before 2026, document its environmental performance, monitor air quality and consult Murujuga traditional landowners. Watt's preliminary approval of the project is also subject to what he described as 'strict conditions'. But the precise conditions will not be revealed until the post-approval statutory 10-day time frame for Woodside to make comment on the conditions has run its course. Critics say the 45 additional years the project is set to operate threaten to undermine Australia's commitments under the Paris Agreement to limit dangerous climate change. The Climate Council points out the forecast emissions from the North West Shelf project (90 million tonnes per year) would be higher than New Zealand's annual output in 2023 of 76.4 million tonnes. Emeritus Professor Alex Gardner, an environmental law expert with the University of Western Australia, said about 90 per cent of emissions emanating from the project would be sent offshore. Australia could not absolve itself of responsibility for these emissions, he said. 'Every tonne of CO2 emitted, regardless of when or where, leads to the same warming,' he said. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, released in 2023, showed the existing 'carbon budget' – before the world reached 1.5 degrees of global warming above pre-industrial levels – had already been spent. 'Projected CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure without additional abatement ...would exceed the remaining carbon budget for 1.5 [degrees],' he said. 'All the things that are in place now, if you burn all that fossil fuel, will exceed 1.5 … the world's authority on climate change science has said we don't need any new gas fields.' As the deadline for Watt's decision neared, environment groups and advocates launched desperate attempts to slow the process. On May 23, traditional custodian Raelene Cooper lodged legal action in the Federal Court seeking to compel Watt to decide on her application for a cultural heritage assessment for Murujuga, under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. Her application had been sitting with the federal government for more than three years. 'I am furious that the minister would make a decision to lock in ongoing and irreversible damage to my country before addressing my application,' Cooper said before Watt's announcement on Wednesday. 'I am sickened that the minister would make such a decision without even paying us the respect of coming here to meet with the custodians of this place, and without even seeing the incredible Murujuga rock art with his own eyes. 'The minister does not even have the respect to come and see for himself what he will be allowing Woodside to destroy.' Speaking after the decision, Cooper said: 'See you in court.' 'Degrading acidic emissions' The federal government formally nominated Murujuga National Park for World Heritage status in 2023, in recognition of the 5000-hectare site's cultural significance. Loading But that nomination was dashed this week, when the agenda for UNESCO's July meeting went online, revealing the United Nations is poised to knock back Australia's application for World Heritage listing for the Murujuga rock art. Instead, the body recommended Australia attend to the 'total removal of degrading acidic emissions' that are affecting the rock carvings, or petroglyphs. The largest source of emissions is Woodside's North West Shelf gas processing facility, which is less than 10 kilometres from between 1 million and 2 million petroglyphs. 'The current system isn't delivering' Karratha, like so many other towns in the far reaches of Western Australia, is a mining centre. To get here from Perth means walking past airport gate after airport gate filled with a sea of high-vis-wearing workers. On the early morning flight, about 90 per cent of the passengers are men, and most wear the fluoro yellow or orange uniforms of the major companies running west coast industries. Watt's decision on Woodside's future here has been welcomed by the oil and gas industry, which describes the North West Shelf as a critical economic driver in the region. But in nearby Roebourne, home to many traditional owners, the economic benefits of this juggernaut are thin on the ground. In 2013-17, the median age of death in West Pilbara was just 55 years compared with 80 across Western Australia. At the 2021 census, 28.5 per cent of residents in Roebourne were in the labour force, compared with 63.9 per cent of West Australians. 'The data highlights a stark contrast between the substantial wealth generated by industry in the Pilbara and the continued socio-economic challenges faced by Ngarda-Ngarli [Aboriginal] communities,' Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation chief executive Sean-Paul Stephens said. 'While industry is thriving, too many of our members are still grappling with the basics – life expectancy remains alarmingly low, and families often rely on food rescue programs to get by. This tells us that the current system isn't delivering equitable outcomes.' Watt spent much of his second week in WA dealing with the two biggest issues of his portfolio: Woodside's expansion plans and the government's nature positive laws. Loading He told ABC radio in Perth last week that he saw his role as serving a dual purpose. 'The way I see my role is ... to be the guardian of the environment and to oversee the regulation of our environmental laws when it comes to projects,' he said. 'But also part of my job is to help facilitate sustainable economic development going forwards. We know that WA in particular relies very heavily on the mining and resources sector. And we do want to see projects go ahead but in a way that doesn't irretrievably damage our environment.'
The Age
2 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Gas is no longer a dirty word for Labor. Should it be?
Anthony Albanese's decision to stare down the Greens and back a four-decade extension of one of Australia's worst-polluting industrial plants will be the first of many steps he takes to lock in future supplies of natural gas. It was a controversial call he didn't want to make before the election, and for an obvious reason: the fate of Woodside Energy's North West Shelf project – a series of offshore gas platforms and the Karratha gas-processing facility – had become the new front line in the long-running fight between the gas industry and Australians demanding faster action on global warming. So the government pushed back the deadline to the end of May. Campaigners likened the extension plan to a 'carbon bomb' that would endanger climate commitments and lock in emissions equivalent to a decade of Australia's current annual total – if factoring in emissions caused by burning the gas overseas. But back in power with an even larger majority, Albanese and his newly minted environment minister, Murray Watt, this week gave the provisional green light for the Woodside-led North West Shelf joint venture to keep producing gas for another 45 years, out to 2070. In doing so, they also gave the strongest signal yet that Labor is prepared to support the ongoing need for more gas infrastructure and drilling programs across the country to keep pumping out supplies of what it considers to be a necessary 'transition fuel' on Australia's pathway to a cleaner economy with net zero emissions. Loading 'It's net zero, not zero,' Albanese remarked in the days before the decision. 'You can't have renewables unless you have firming capacity – simple as that.' Make no mistake, the Albanese government is leading Australia through one of the fastest and most ambitious shifts to renewable energy anywhere in the world. Last year, wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric dams and big batteries supplied about 40 per cent of our electricity, and the government is trying to double that by 2030, with a target for renewables to meet 82 per cent of the grid by then. But Labor has long been caught in a fight over the future of natural gas – a fossil fuel that burns more cleanly than coal but is still a main source of harmful greenhouse emissions that are overheating the planet.
