Australia Passes Tougher Emissions Reduction Law that Hits Gas Investments

Lewis Jackson
Thursday, March 30, 2023
An offshore platform in Australia - Credit: KRUTOPIMAGES / AdobeStock

New rules that cap total Australian greenhouse gas emissions and curb some new gas and coal investments in the country will come into effect on 1 July after parliament passed an upgraded emissions reduction plan on Thursday.

The "Safeguard Mechanism" reform legislation is key to the Labor government's pledge to cut emissions by 43% by 2030 in a country that ranks as one of the world's biggest carbon emitters per capita.

Labor inked a deal with the Greens Party on Monday to secure support for the legislation through the upper house Senate, where it passed on Thursday afternoon.

Negotiations with the Greens, who wanted a ban on all new fossil fuel investments, resulted in a law including a hard total emissions cap, ministerial review for projects that raise total emissions and compulsory disclosures for polluters that rely heavily on carbon offsets to meet their targets.

"Today is an historic day for the country to ensure our economy can take advantage of the opportunities of decarbonization and meet our ambitious climate targets," Energy Minister Bowen said in a statement.

The plan aims to make about 215 oil, gas, mining and manufacturing facilities that annually emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2-e) cut their emissions by 30% over the next seven years.

Under the revised legislation, projects such as the massive Browse field that Woodside Energy wants to develop would have to have carbon capture and storage to achieve net zero.

The legislation also requires all new gas projects in the Beetaloo Basin to have net zero carbon emissions and new gas fields supplying existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants to have net zero reservoir emissions, imposing new costs.

(Reuters - Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Michael Perry)

Categories: Energy Industry News Activity Australia/NZ Regulations

Related Stories

Woodside Inks Long-Term LNG Supply Deal with China Resources

Woodside Inks Long-Term LNG Supply Deal with China Resources

SLB Names Raman CSO, CMO

SLB Names Raman CSO, CMO

Initial Drilling Results Raise Questions on South Korea’s Offshore Gas Viability

Initial Drilling Results Raise Questions on South Korea’s Offshore Gas Viability

Sunda Energy Starts Environmental Survey for Timor-Leste Oil and Gas Field

Sunda Energy Starts Environmental Survey for Timor-Leste Oil and Gas Field

China's CNOOC Aims for Record Oil and Gas Production in 2025

China's CNOOC Aims for Record Oil and Gas Production in 2025

EnQuest to Acquire Harbour Energy's Vietnamese Assets

EnQuest to Acquire Harbour Energy's Vietnamese Assets

Petronas to Retain National Authority After Sarawak Gas Deal

Petronas Greenlights Hidayah Field Development Off Indonesia

Abu Dhabi's NMDC Group Gets $1.1B Subsea Gas Pipeline Job in Taiwan

BP Targets 44% Oil, 89% Gas Increase from India’s Mumbai High Field

Current News

The Future of Long-Idle Drillships: Cold-Stacked or Dead-Stacked?

TMC Books Compressors Orders for FPSO and LNG Vessels

MODEC, Sumitomo Partner Up for Delivery of Gato do Mato FPSO

Chuditch Gas Field Up for Summer Drilling Ops as Sunda Reshapes Ownership Structure

EnQuest Bags Two Production Sharing Contracts off Indonesia

Hanwha Drilling’s Tidal Action Drillship En Route to Petrobras’ Roncador Field

China's ENN, Zhenhua Oil Ink LNG Supply Deals with ADNOC

MODEC Wins ExxonMobil Guyana’s Hammerhead FPSO Contract

India Stretches Bids Deadline for 13 Offshore Deep-Sea Mineral Blocks

Indonesia Awards Oil and Gas Blocks to Boost Reserves

photo

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com