Low Emission Technology Australia (LETA) has publicly supported Glencore’s proposed Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project – the Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation (CTSCo) – with a submission to a current Federal Senate Inquiry.
LETA’s submission to the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee’s inquiry into Glencore’s proposed CCS project states “The success of Glencore’s CTSCo project is crucial to ensuring that Australia can achieve large-scale onshore CO2 storage and that heavy industry does have a path to net zero in the short-medium term.”
LETA’s submission sits among supportive submissions from credible organisations and individuals in the scientific community, including the Federal Government’s own Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), the Global CCS Institute and Professor David Close, Director of the Gas & Energy Transition Research Centre at the University of Queensland.
The Mining and Energy Union Queensland District also lodged a submission in support of the project and recognised the importance of ‘investing in new technology to support regional jobs of the future’.
LETA has been a partner in the CTSCo project since 2014, as part of a group that has provided funding and technical support.
LETA’s Chief Executive Officer Mark McCallum said “It was very important for LETA to make a submission to this Inquiry and support the CTSCo project – both for the benefits that this project will bring, and for the future of this vital technology in Australia.
“It is crucial that the CTSCo project is allowed to move forward. The deployment of CCS is an essential component of Australia’s net zero equation. Getting to net zero without CCS will cost more, take longer and may even be impossible.
“In reviewing the submissions to this Inquiry, I was not surprised to see support for this project from members of the scientific community. In addition to the organisations that have made submissions, the project has been independently reviewed by Australian and global experts, including the Australian Government Independent Expert Scientific Committee (IESC), the Queensland Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) and CSIRO who concluded that any impacts would be local and minor.
“The project has also been subject to extensive and rigorous environmental assessment, through a detailed and public Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process.
“Despite the opportunity that this project provides, it remains under threat from dangerous misinformation and inflammatory claims that have not been backed up by science.
“Claims have been made about safety concerns and the project’s potential to damage the agricultural sector. These claims have been designed to scare, they are not rooted in fact and I am yet to see one page, one sentence, of independent scientific evidence that supports them.
“Deployment of CCS, including through the CTSCo project, is the key to reducing emissions without abandoning the critical industries that are the backbone of Australia’s economy and deliver hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs.
“A future made in Australia relies on our critical manufacturing industries like steel, cement and chemicals. Without CCS technology to lower emissions from these industries, their future in a net zero world becomes uncertain and puts Australian jobs at risk.
“Around the world, Governments, including in the US, UK and EU, are investing billions of dollars in CCS technologies to support emission reduction efforts of large critical industries like steel, cement and power generation to help preserve jobs and industry in Australia. Australia cannot afford to be left behind when it comes to supporting the adoption of this important technology.
“If the CTSCo project does not go ahead then Australia will effectively be closing the door on CCS technology and turning its back on the future for some of the critical industries that we rely on every day.
“LETA has been investing in low emissions technologies, including the CTSCo Project, for more than a decade to significantly reduce emissions and support the transition to a low emission global economy.”
LETA remains committed to collaborating with government, industry, and our international trading partners to further explore new technologies that will support Australia to reach net zero emissions while ensuring a future for the critical industries that support Australian jobs and households every day.
ENDS