Australia’s coal and gas exports cause more climate damage than any other country except Russia. According to a new study They say the country is undermining a global agreement to move away from fossil fuels.
Australia was the third-largest fossil fuel exporter in 2021, on an energy basis, behind Russia and the United States, according to analysis commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Institute at the University of New South Wales.
Australia came in second based on emissions, overtaking the United States as most of Australia’s exports are coal, a particularly emissions-intensive fuel.
This means that Australia’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions account for just 1% of global emissions, but around 4.5% when exports are included.
Government projections show fossil fuel exports are expected to remain at roughly current levels until at least 2035 as Australia continues to approve new coal and gas export developments, according to a report by Climate Analytics, a non-profit science and policy organization.
Climate Analytics chief executive Bill Hare said this was at odds with a series of international commitments made by Australia, including a call for the world to move away from fossil fuels and “accelerate action this decade”, backed by almost 200 countries at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in December.
“Yet the Australian government is pursuing a deliberate strategy to rapidly ramp up natural gas exports and export billions of tonnes of emissions which is inconsistent with achieving net zero and completely inconsistent with the science on this issue,” he said.
Dr Gillian Moon, project leader of the Australian Institute for Human Rights’ Climate Accountability Project, said it was alarming that Australia’s emissions from fossil fuel exports were around 30 billion CO2.2 It has increased for 63 years since 1961 and is projected to increase by 50% between now and 2035.
She said the country continues on this path despite being more vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis than most other countries. [emissions reduction] “We’ve met our targets but we haven’t said anything about exports. We export 91 per cent of our coal and about three-quarters of our gas and we have no plans to exit this trade,” she said. “Australians deserve to know the truth about this and what the consequences will be for us.”
Moon said if Australia was serious about tackling climate change it should do more to encourage fossil fuel buyers to move more quickly to renewable energy, particularly developed nations Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, which account for about two-thirds of exports, and should hold similar discussions with like-minded fossil fuel exporters such as Canada and Norway.
She said it was surprising that there had been no discussion at all about fossil fuel production at the World Climate Conference, which is held every year at the end of the year. “We need to be talking about how to deal with this issue,” she said.
After newsletter promotion
The analysis found that emissions from fossil fuels need to be reduced by 64% by 2035 for the global community to comply with a key goal of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement – that countries strive to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
The report also states:
-
Australia’s fossil fuel exports in 2023 are expected to contribute 1.15 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions, almost three times the amount emitted domestically.
-
The country accounted for 52% of global coking coal exports and 17% of global thermal coal exports in 2022. Coking coal is used to make steel and thermal coal is used to generate electricity.
-
Australia more than doubled its liquefied natural gas export capacity in the five years to 2020, adding 62 million tonnes per year.
-
Only 19% of Australia’s gas production is used domestically – the rest is exported or used as energy by export industries.
-
The Australian government and regulators continued to grant approvals for new large-scale gas production and LNG export projects in 2021 and 2022. This appeared to contradict the net-zero roadmap published by the International Energy Agency, which sees global gas use falling 18-22% by 2030 and 47-53% by 2035 compared to 2022 levels.
Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King announced last month that the government would award nine permits to six companies to explore for new gas fields off the western and southeastern coasts of the country: four to Esso and one each to Beach Energy, Woodside, Chevron, Inpex and Melbana.
Australia’s proposal is part of a surge in new oil and gas exploration by wealthy democracies including the US, UK and Canada that could unleash around 12 billion tonnes of planet-warming emissions and undermine national and global climate commitments, according to data published by the Guardian this week.
A recent report from the think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis disputed the idea that Japan needs Australian natural gas to maintain its energy supplies, saying demand for natural gas in the Asian country has fallen 25 percent over the past decade. Selling more LNG overseas than it buys from Australia.
