Following the Australian Labor Party’s 50th National Conference, at which Labor adopted its 2026 National Platform and Ms Kate Ellis assumed the role of National President, the Global CCS Institute wrote an open letter welcoming the Party’s climate and industry ambitions while strongly encouraging Labor to explicitly recognise carbon capture and storage as part of its pathway to net zero. Read the full letter below.
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An open letter to Ms Kate Ellis
National President
Australian Labor Party
Dear Ms Ellis
Congratulations on your election as National President of the Australian Labor Party. The Global CCS Institute welcomes the strong climate and economic ambition in Labor’s 2026 National Platform. Its commitments to net zero by 2050, ambitious and achievable 2030 and 2035 targets, 82 percent renewable electricity by 2030, and six sectoral decarbonisation plans provide a strong foundation for sustained emissions reduction. We also welcome Labor’s focus on keeping energy-intensive industries competitive, creating secure skilled jobs, and ensuring workers and communities share in the opportunities of the transition.
Achieving these objectives will require every effective emissions-reduction option. Renewable energy, electrification and energy efficiency will continue to be vital. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) complements these solutions by tackling emissions that are technically difficult or prohibitively costly to eliminate, particularly in heavy industry. It also supports the development of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies by creating CO2 storage infrastructure. Explicit recognition of CCS in Labor’s Platform would further support Labor’s aims to reduce emissions across every sector, decarbonise hard-to-abate industries and maintain a strong Australian industrial base.
Australia now has strong domestic evidence that CCS can deliver measurable, independently audited abatement. The Clean Energy Regulator’s project register records 1,403,427 ACCUs issued to the Moomba Carbon Capture and Storage Project in 2025–26. This is the largest annual project-level issuance in the ACCU Scheme’s history and more than double the next largest in FY2025-26. Those ACCUs represent more than 1.4 million tonnes of credited net abatement. They were issued through the Scheme’s legislated assessment process, including an independent reasonable-assurance audit and direct measurement of the carbon dioxide captured for permanent underground storage.
Moomba proves that CCS is successfully operating in Australia today and delivering verified abatement at scale. It also demonstrates how CCS can support the Safeguard Mechanism, sectoral decarbonisation and the competitiveness of Australian industry in a net-zero global economy, consistent with Labor’s goals. The Safeguard Mechanism scheme requires large volumes of ACCUs over the coming years. CCS can deliver those volumes.
Labor clearly recognising CCS would strengthen Labor’s clean-energy and climate agenda. It would give workers, industry, investors, researchers and international partners greater confidence that Australia supports a balanced portfolio of technologies, applied where they can deliver safe, durable and cost-effective emissions reductions.
Labor’s earlier platforms provide a sound foundation. The 2021 National Platform recognised that CCS “will play” a role in abating emissions from heavy manufacturing and gas production. The 2023 National Platform recognised that carbon capture, use and storage “may provide opportunities” to reduce pollution in hard-to-abate industries and supported clear legal and regulatory frameworks.
We respectfully encourage Labor, in government, to build on its previous recognition of CCS by providing clear, positive and unequivocal support for the technology as part of Australia’s climate and industry policy. Doing so will send a clear positive signal to Australian industry and our international partners. Stable policy, regulatory and investment frameworks for CCS would help deliver Labor’s emissions-reduction objectives, protect and create skilled industrial jobs, and enable Australian industry to remain competitive and prosper through the transition to net zero.
In addition, Australia’s role this year as President of Negotiations for COP31 makes this a particularly important time for the Australian Government to champion the full portfolio of technologies needed to achieve net zero, including CCS and CDR. Leading global pathways indicate that these technologies will need to operate at gigatonne scale. The International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Emissions Scenario, for example, envisages almost 6 billion tonnes of captured CO₂ being stored annually by 2050, while the IPCC concludes that CDR is necessary to counterbalance residual emissions and achieve net zero. Australia should continue to use its international leadership role to help ensure these technologies receive the policy attention and investment required to scale.
With Australia’s abundant geological storage resources, industrial capabilities and strong regional partnerships, Australia is well placed to help lead this effort. Doing so can strengthen energy and economic security, attract international investments, support economic growth and skilled domestic jobs, and help Australia achieve its climate targets at the lowest overall cost. The Global CCS Institute stands ready to work with the Australian Government and the Australian Labor Party towards these shared goals, including through Australia’s leadership activities in the lead-up to and during COP31 this year.
Yours sincerely,
Dr David T. Kearns
Country Manager, Australia and New Zealand
Global CCS Institute
