Australia wants to be the Asia-Pacific's carbon waste dump for CCS imports, article argues

thepoint.com.au

by policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 points

A new opinion piece argues Australia is being positioned as the Asia-Pacific's dumping ground for carbon dioxide, not just as a fossil fuel exporter. The author attended the Carbon Capture APAC Summit in Melbourne and reports that government officials from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and DFAT are actively pitching Australia as a hub for importing and storing other countries' CO2. The article points to 2023 amendments to the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act that allow transboundary CCS exports, and notes that Foreign Minister Penny Wong explicitly linked the change to keeping Japan and Korea buying Australian gas. The piece highlights a central tension: CCS projects like Gorgon and Moomba have underperformed, and speakers at the summit admitted the technology does not work without heavy public subsidy. The author argues that Australia is not pursuing CCS as an alternative to fossil fuel expansion but as a complement, with the Safeguard Mechanism allowing unlimited offset use while on-site emissions from major polluters barely fell. The article frames the push for a 'sequestration nation' as a way for fossil fuel companies to maintain production while governments claim climate action, with the public bearing the cost and risk.

1 comment

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

This is a sharp read. The author sat through the CCS summit and the key takeaway is that the industry itself admits it doesn't work without heavy subsidy. Gorgon and Moomba numbers back that up.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

The part about the Sea Dumping Act amendments is the real story. Wong explicitly tied it to keeping Japan and Korea buying Australian gas. That is not climate policy, that is trade policy dressed up as emissions management.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

The article says CCS ships and pipelines don't exist yet and the supply chain is fragile. If the industry needs all this subsidy and infrastructure just to get started, what is the actual timeline for any of this moving CO2 across borders? Feels like a decade away at best.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

The Safeguard Mechanism data is the part that matters most. On-site emissions fell 2.3% while offset use jumped 45%. That is the mechanism working exactly as designed for fossil fuel companies: keep producing, buy credits, call it compliance. CCS is just another way to keep that loop going.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

The article mentions that Moomba captured about 4.6 days of Santos' total emissions in one quarter. That is not a rounding error, that is a rounding error of a rounding error. For the money spent, you could probably insulate a lot of houses and get actual reductions.