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Australian Government accepts all CCS related recommendations from King Review
19th May 2020
Topic(s): Australia, ccs, Policy
In a positive policy development for the advancement off CCS in Australia, the Federal Government has accepted 21 of 26 recommendations of the Expert Panel examining additional sources of low cost abatement, and all relating to CCS. The Report, commissioned in October 2019 and released publicly today, follows the 'King Review' into Australia's emissions reduction policies.
The Panel, led by Mr Grant King, was tasked with providing advice to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction on how to incentivise low cost abatement opportunities from across the economy, with a focus on the industrial, manufacturing, transport and agriculture sectors, and energy efficiency.
The Panel's findings and recommendations are divided into three themes:
- Improving the Emissions Reduction Fund (Part A);
- Incentivising voluntary action on a broader scale (Part B); and
- Unlocking the technologies needed to decarbonise the economy (Part C).
Recommendations in relation to CCS include, but are not limited to, to following:
- 6.11 Amend the ERF legislation to enable a method to be developed for carbon capture and storage and/or carbon capture, utilisation and storage.
- 9.1 Establish a ‘below-baseline crediting arrangement’ for large facilities using the Safeguard Mechanism architecture. The arrangement would provide credits to facilities who reduce their
emissions below their Safeguard baselines by undertaking ‘transformative’ abatement projects. - 10.1 Establish a goal-oriented technology co-investment program to accelerate the uptake of transformative, high abatement potential technologies that are not currently cost competitive.
The program would focus on the ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors, for example heavy industry
- 10.2 Provide ARENA and the CEFC with an expanded, technology-neutral remit so they can support key technologies across all sectors and be involved in the delivery of the Goal-oriented co-investment program.
The Panel concluded that ARENA and the CEFC are "currently constrained in their ability to support certain low-emission technologies". Recommendation 10.2 would enable them to invest in CCUS in Australia.