A new report contends that Australia is undercutting a worldwide pact to move away from fossil fuels by exporting more coal and gas than any other nation, with the exception of Russia.
The Australian Human Rights Institute at the University of New South Wales commissioned the investigation, which revealed that, in terms of energy, Australia was the third-largest exporter of fossil fuels in 2021, behind the US and Russia.
Australia came in second place based on emissions. Because coal, a fuel with unusually high emissions, makes up the majority of Australia’s exports, it surpassed the US in this regard.
As a result, even though Australia contributes only 1% of global emissions domestically, its exports account for approximately 4.5% of total emissions.
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According to Moon, if Australia was sincere about its climate pledges, it ought to be doing more to support nations that purchased its fossil fuels—especially the developed nations of South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, which account for about two-thirds of its exports—in their transition to renewable energy. According to her, such talks ought to be held with exporters of fossil fuels, like Canada and Norway.
The absence of any conversation regarding the production of fossil fuels during the annual global climate talks, according to her, was startling. “We need to talk about how we’re going to handle this,” the woman stated.
According to the estimate, fossil fuel emissions would need to be cut by 64% by 2035 if nations were to strive to keep global warming to 1.5C, which is the main objective of the historic Paris climate agreement.
Additionally, the report stated:
Australia exported 1.15 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2023 from fossil fuels, over three times the amount that was released domestically.
In 2022, the nation accounted for 17% of the world's thermal coal exports and 52% of its metallurgical coal exports. Thermal coal is used to generate power, while metallurgical coal is used to make steel.
In the five years leading up to 2020, Australia increased its capacity to export liquefied natural gas by more than twice, adding 62 million tonnes annually.
In Australia, just 19% of the gas extracted is consumed domestically. The export industry either exported the remainder or used it as energy.
Permits for new large-scale gas production and LNG export projects were still being granted by Australian authorities and governments in 2021 and 2022. This seemed in conflict with the International Energy Agency's net zero roadmap, which said that global gas demand should decrease by 18–22% by 2030 and 47–53% by 2035 relative to 2022 levels.Madeleine King, Australia’s minister of resources, declared this month that nine permits will be given to six corporations to search for fresh gas deposits off the country’s west and southeast coastlines. Four of the permits will go to Esso, while the remaining five will go to Beach Energy, Woodside, Chevron, Inpex, and Melbana.
The Australian plans, according to data this week published by the Guardian, were a part of a wave of new oil and gas exploration by wealthy democracies, including the US, UK, and Canada, that threatened to release nearly 12 billion tonnes of emissions that would warm the planet and jeopardize national and international climate commitments.
The idea that Japan required Australian gas to sustain its energy supply was refuted in a recent analysis by the think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. According to the report, the Asian nation’s gas consumption has decreased by 25% in the last ten years, and it is now exporting more LNG to other countries than it is importing from Australia.
