Carbon Market
Despite all the hot air Australian pollies are still propping up uneconomic (diminishing ROI) outdated energy infrastructure, including unethically diverting funds from Australia’s largest renewable energy project (Snowy 2.0), without requiring all new and upgraded/maintained fossil fuelled power plants to scrub COx, as they are required to do with NOx and SOx, and remove from dumping into the atmosphere.
Despite the UK’s Lord Stern and our own Prof Ross Garnaut seminal carbon market-based mechanism reports, our pollies prefer spending our future wealth on past technology without requiring future proofing. EITE industries require incentives to make a drastic change in direction. The US is the most progressive in carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) because of a tax break (45Q) that has accelerated the use of enhanced oil/gas recovery (EO/GR). The green knee-jerk reaction is that this will keep the oil industry going while missing the opportunity to accelerate permanent carbon geosequestration (CCS), not temporary tree changes, and use cheaper (cost and energy) and a cleaner form of fossil fuel for liquid future fuels and feedstocks e.g., H2 and NH3.
Carbon pricing will once again be on the global agenda (CoP26 Glasgow) as its already mainstream in Europe. We need to wake-up and catch-up before we miss the boat or get on the wrong boat whereby companies divest their carbon boot-prints by investing in failed short-term carbon offset wooden pyramid schemes. Unfortunately, we now have few options left but to invest heavily in well proven and reliable technologies such as CCUS. Please, for all our sakes, stop stalling and misdirecting, show real commitment and leadership and get on-board with verifiable global carbon MBMs.