7 hours ago
Labor MP Jerome Laxale pushes to force climate considerations into environment laws
The Albanese government is facing pressure from its backbench to move quickly on sweeping changes to environmental laws after a contentious gas project was granted provisional approval.
Labor MP Jerome Laxale has said he will lobby the government to ensure that Australia's climate targets are considered when future coal or gas projects seek approval.
Almost a fortnight ago Labor provisionally approved Woodside's bid to extend the life of its North West Shelf gas plant through to 2070.
The approval is critical for the company's greater aim of developing the Browse gas field, Australia's largest untapped gas resource.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made clear the approval was the only decision available under current environmental laws.
"The environment minister had to deal with the North West Shelf project under the existing EPBC Act, that we did try to change in the last election," he said.
"It was before the parliament for almost two years."
During the last term of parliament, the government shelved plans for a rewrite of environmental laws but did try to establish a new environmental protection agency.
An early blueprint outlining the aims of the new laws, the "Nature Positive Plan", indicated that emissions would be a factor in future environmental approvals.
The stand-alone EPA legislation didn't pass the Senate after WA Premier Roger Cook lobbied the prime minister against doing a deal with the Greens.
The prime minister has made clear the stalled reforms will be a priority in the government's second term.
Environment Minister Murray Watt has been tasked with reworking the policy, which he says will seek to both protect the environment and serve the needs of businesses.
Mr Laxale, who is a patron of Labor's Environment Action Network, said the new laws must consider Australia's climate ambitions.
"We need to make sure that our big emitting projects don't jeopardise our ability to meet our emissions reductions target," he said.
"That's the fundamental that I want to try and get into the law."
One major project on the approvals horizon is Woodside's Browse project.
Applications for both the project itself, and a carbon-capture and storage project alongside it, are both going through the state and federal approvals process.
It's unclear if new environmental laws could be passed in time to affect Browse, and if the project would be subject to them should they be implemented.
Heavily-emitting projects are already required to comply with Australia's climate targets through the safeguard mechanism.
Under the safeguard rules, the North West Shelf project is subject to ever-lowering emissions caps towards net zero by 2050.
But if the Browse gas project goes ahead, it would be subject to even tighter rules — needing to be net zero from the day it begins operating.
The mechanism only tracks a project's direct emissions created in the process of extracting and processing fuel, meaning emissions from the gas produced and sold by a project like Browse are the responsibility of whoever buys and uses the gas.
Woodside's plan to meet that net-zero test for Browse is at least partly through carbon capture and storage.
After initially suggesting carbon capture and storage would be unfeasible for Browse, the company is now planning a floating system operated at sea.
The Browse gas fields have a relatively high carbon content — as much as 12 per cent of the gas field is carbon dioxide.
Woodside suggests the majority of that can be captured and buried, reducing Browse's direct (or "scope one") emissions by 53 million tonnes, or 47 per cent.
But carbon capture and storage has a patchy track record in Australia, including some high-profile struggles.
Chevron's Gorgon gas project is attempting carbon capture and storage, but as of late last year had captured about a third of the emissions it had promised.
A different project, Santos' Moomba plant, has had more success.
Greg Bourne, a former oil and gas industry executive who now works with the Climate Council, said he doubts Woodside can make its carbon capture plan work.
"One only has to witness how difficult Chevron's Gorgon CCS project has been on land. To do it offshore is not only doubly difficult, it is multiply difficult to do," he said.
But others argue carbon capture needs to work for Australia to meet its net zero ambitions.
Alex Zapantis from the Global CCS Institute said drawing comparisons between the Gorgon and Browse carbon capture projects was unfair.
"There is nothing technologically, fundamentally that prohibits you from re-injecting liquids of any sort, including carbon dioxide, into geological structures deep beneath the seabed," he said.
"This is a well-established practice by the oil and gas industry.
"And comparing Browse to Gorgon, it's not a valid comparison because the geological structures are completely different. They are different structures, they will have different characteristics."
The Albanese government has made clear its desire to see more gas projects approved, and has adopted a "Future Gas Strategy" that sees a role for gas well beyond 2050.
Mr Laxale agrees there is an important role for gas in the energy transition — but that role might not last forever.
"I'd say we need gas, until we don't," he said.
