News & Views item - June  2004

 

 

Howard Government Publishes Its White Paper Securing Australia's Energy Future. (June 15, 2004)

    At Today's National Press Club luncheon the Prime Minister, John Howard, Announced the Coalition Government's forthcoming eight year energy policy.

    In explaining why his government refuses to sign the Kyoto Agreement he said (excerpted):

Australia accounts for only 1.6 per cent of emissions and cannot change the course of climate change alone. However... [b]etween 1990 and 2002, the Australian economy grew by 47 per cent, while greenhouse emissions grew by only 1.3 per cent. We can and will continue the drive towards a better emissions performance.

    We have played a positive role in seeking a global solution to climate change. Currently Australia is one of the few nations on track to meet its target under the Kyoto agreement. We will achieve this with a strong and growing economy.

    [But] we will not ratify something that does not encompass the world’s largest emitters. Neither does the Kyoto protocol address the issue of investment and emissions moving from one nation to another with no overall global greenhouse benefit.

    If Australia is forced to impose a discriminatory impost on carbon emissions, it is likely that new LNG investments will go elsewhere – costing Australia economic growth, jobs and export income.

On the face of it Mr Howard's statement would appear to contain elements of self contradiction and with Russian President Vladimir Putin promising to move quickly on ratification of the Kyoto climate change treaty the Prime Minister's stand appears to be increasingly less defensible.

 

The government will provide some $75 million toward developing trial "Solar Cities" to "place a proper market value on the role solar energy can play in meeting peak demand and reducing the need for transmission and distribution investments," which undoubtedly is worthwhile but also suggests the Government sees solar power to be at best a minor player in the future for Australia's production of electrical energy. Overall the government's assessment of renewable energy sources is summarised as:

Renewable energy plays an important role in delivering low emission electricity. Solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass all show great potential as sources of electricity. But the high cost of renewable electricity options remains a barrier to their wider use.

Considering that currently Denmark obtains nearly a fifth of its electrical energy from wind farms and has every intention of significantly increasing this in the near future, the Prime Minister's view from a long term standpoint of what is to Australia's benefit is contentious. Nevertheless he has promised that:

As well as being eligible for the Low Emission Fund, renewable energy sources will receive support of a further $100 million for research, development, demonstration and commercialisation. The Government will also spend $34 million to improve wind forecasting and develop options to store electricity – targeting impediments to the uptake of solar and wind-based electricity.

But that commitment is immediately followed by  the existing Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) scheme remaining unchanged (MRET currently requires that 2% of electricity be generated from renewable sources.) thereby giving no additional  incentive to raise the bar. Mr Howard went on to make the sweeping statement to the National Press Club:

Expanding MRET would impose substantial new costs on the economy and would benefit too few technologies. A better path is to directly promote the development and demonstration of a broader range of low emission technologies and tackle the impediments to the uptake of renewable energy.

But with no substantiation. And then what looks like a pre-election carrot the government will substantially reduce the federal excise on fuel for households and industry.

 

Finally, Mr. Howard's NPC address per se made no mention of the geosequestration of CO2  despite its relevance, controversial nature and the primitive understanding of its cost benefit and long-term effect on the environment. However, The Sydney Morning Herald reports, "Although the Federal Government did not dedicate a large grant for research and development of geosequestration in yesterday's energy white paper, it is likely to win support through the new, competitive, $500 million Low Emission Technology Fund for research into greenhouse gas abatement."