Low Emission Technology Australia (LETA) has welcomed the Australian Government’s commitment to invest an additional $1 billion in technologies that will play a critical role in the world’s efforts to get to net-zero carbon emissions.
“I’m very pleased to see the focus of this fund on commercialisation of technologies, a critical one being carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS),” said LETA Chief Executive Officer, Mark McCallum.
“We know that CCUS is a proven technology working in more than 25 countries around the world today, and that the CO2 capture capacity of the facilities in development has increased by almost 50 per cent in the last year alone.
“Experts including the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change, the IEA and former Australian Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel agree that CCUS must be deployed at scale to reach net-zero.
“But to achieve our global climate aspirations the world’s CCUS capacity must increase by 100-fold, about an additional 2,000 facilities, and will require investment of up to US$1300 billion.
“There is momentum in CCUS advancing globally and we know first-hand that there is a hunger from the private sector to invest in these critical technologies, we just need pragmatic and enabling policies and regulations to mobilise it and accelerate it.
“That includes assistance to deploy at commercial scale.
“The ability of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to administer this fund and leverage private sector investment is a step in the right direction.”
Mr McCallum said critics who continue to demonise CCUS are not focusing on what’s important — emissions reduction.
“There is no silver bullet to net-zero, no single way of getting to net-zero — we need all technologies to get to reach this goal and CCUS will play a key role because it can prevent more than 90 per cent of CO2 emissions entering the atmosphere,” said Mr McCallum.
“That’s why LETA is investing in CCUS and the zero-emission Allam-Fetvedt Cycle technology — because we’re serious about contributing to Australia’s efforts to meet its international climate commitments and transition to a low-carbon economy.
“Our focus is on investing in projects that can reduce and remove emissions from hard-to-abate industries that we rely on every day, for example power generation, cement, steel and chemicals manufacturing and fertiliser production.
“CCUS is being used for these very industries — and more — around the world, with the UK and Europe leading the way, and investing billions of dollars in it.
“At the same time, the technology enables us to produce clean fuels of the future, like hydrogen and ammonia, which can be used domestically to power our industries, or for export.
“The technology’s available, we can reduce emissions with it and establish Australia as a world-leading clean energy exporter, so why wouldn’t we further develop it and use it?”
ENDS