Experts say that Australia's investment in natural gas threatens its climate credentials

Experts and two Pacific Climate Ministers say that Australia's approval for a 40-year project extension has undermined its bid to be the host of a United Nations Climate Summit next year, and its green credentials.

The centre-left government that came to power in 2022, with a mandate to reform climate policy, has approved Woodside Energy’s North West Shelf Project to continue until 2070. This is subject to a review.

The company and energy industry hailed the move, citing the continued operation of LNG plants as an alternative fuel to coal.

Climate scientists and ministers of Tuvalu and Vanuatu have criticised the project, stating that its emissions may threaten their very existence.

Climate scientist Malte Meinshausen at the University of Melbourne said: "It is a staggering amount of additional emissions."

Woodside estimates that the extension will emit 4.3 billion more tons of CO2 over the lifetime of the plant.

Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative backed by 11 Pacific Island Nations and Territories says that this is equal to the combined emissions of 14 Pacific Island nations.

Maina Talia, Tuvalu's Minister for Climate Change, said: "This is more than politics." It is important to have the moral courage to stand up for those who are most affected by climate changes.

This comment could have a negative impact on Canberra's bid to host the United Nations COP31 Climate Summit next year, which it hopes to do in conjunction with Pacific island neighbors Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Australia is on track to cut its emissions to 42.7% lower than 2005 levels by 2030. This will help it reach the global goal of zero net greenhouse gas emissions in 2050.

The North West Shelf gas is mainly destined for the export market, so most of its emissions won't count towards Australia’s net zero domestic target.

Meinshausen said Australia, which has contributed to previous reports of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, could not ignore their role in providing fossil fuels that cause global warming.

He said, "It is like a drug dealer saying that we sell the stuff but someone else burns it."

"That doesn't really work in a world that wants you to be responsible for your actions, and part of a global solution to climate changes."

Murray Watt, the Australian Environment Minister who announced the extension of the program on Wednesday, stated that he would refrain from commenting further until the entire review process is complete.

TRANSITION GREEN

Gas is a fuel that Australia uses as a bridge to renewable energy sources.

Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill said to reporters that many people are beginning to understand the importance of gas.

The extension of the project was a sensitive political issue for the current Labor Party. It had been seen as hostile towards gas when they took power, but since then has warmed up to the industry.

The decision was deferred until after the state elections in Western Australia, and the federal election, won by Labor. Labor took the seats of the Greens who were strongly against the extension of the project.

Pacific Islands Forum is a regional diplomatic bloc of eighteen countries that supports Australia's bid for the COP31 U.N. Conference of the Parties climate summit in 2015. A decision, despite criticism, seems imminent.

Talia called on Australia to stop the extension before the project decision was made if Australia wanted to cohost COP31 along with the Pacific.

Vanuatu's Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu, speaking to ABC, called the decision "a slap on the face" of Pacific Island Nations. Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney and Alasdair pal; editing by Clarence Fernandez

(source: Reuters)