Few substantial differences set the Coalition and Labor apart on fossil fuels and climate. Both parties support new coal and gas projects despite dire warnings from the IPCC. This is the latest in Callum Foote’s series investigating the policies of the major parties heading into Saturday’s election.
The latest report from the IPCC carried a ‘final warning’ when released earlier this week. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reiterated its call for all countries to immediately halt all new fossil fuel developments and expansions. The future of a liveable world is at stake.
Despite the urgency, despite the science, the response from Australia’s major parties could best be summed up as “climate change is important but …” When it comes to approving new fossil fuel projects, it is all-systems-go.
While both the Coalition and Labor in NSW have committed verbally to net-zero emissions by 2050, neither is willing to put its foot down when it comes to new fossil fuel developments. Both receive significant party donations from coal and gas companies.
Actions louder than words
According to Nic Clyde, the NSW Coordinator for the anti-coal and gas advocacy group Lock the Gate Alliance “here in NSW, there is bipartisan support for new coal.
The Coalition openly supports new coal projects. Labor is using more guarded language, but their policy position is not materially different.”
The story is not much different for gas says Clyde: “Both the Coalition and NSW Labor support Narrabri Gas despite its impacts on groundwater, climate, farmland and heritage.
No standing up to Santos
“Neither is willing to protect the Liverpool Plains food-bowl from Santos’s coal seam gas drilling. Nor are they willing to stand up for farmers or Traditional Owners who oppose gas infrastructure (including the Hunter Gas Pipeline) on their land.”
Samatha McCulloch, chief executive for APPEA, the peak body for the oil and gas industry told MWM that “The state needs to provide a clear strategy to bring on new gas supply that can help avoid forecast shortfalls in the east coast energy market and put downward pressure on prices.
“This could include fast-tracking new supply options like the long-delayed Narrabri Gas Project, which could supply enough natural gas to meet up to half of the state’s gas demand.”
McCulloch said that “whoever is elected to government needs to recognise the fundamental role of natural gas in a cleaner energy future as identified by international and national energy authorities”.
Turning a deaf ear
Of the recent IPCC report, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said: “This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.”
Santos’ $650 million gas Narrabri project is expected to finalise its funding this June.
Since the Paris Agreement came into effect in 2019, the NSW government has approved 26 expanded fossil fuel projects.
This next year will be particularly important for new developments, as whoever holds government will need to decide on 8 new proposed coal expansions including the largest one ever considered in NSW since the Paris Agreement, the Hunter Valley Operations Continuation Project.
Mega-tonnes of emissions
Owned by Anglo-Swiss resources juggernaut Glencore, the project will emit roughly 400 mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere if it is developed.
New coal and gas projects are getting a free run in NSW, because the hands of decision-makers are tied when they come to considering the climate impact.
Labor has committed to legislating a net-zero by 2050 target which will have implications for further policy and regulatory decisions according to Brad Smith, Policy and Advocacy Director at the Nature and Conservation Council of NSW.
“What Labor says puts it ahead of the Coalition’s policies, is it will actually legislate its climate targets, which is something the Coalition hasn’t done.”
This means that the legislative targets will be considered in all of government decision-making. If one part of the government is thinking about cutting down a forest or approving a coal mine they’ll be forced to consider the net-zero targets as they exist legally.
Labor promises
Even more important for Smith is that “instead of just setting the targets, Labor will also legislate an independent commission that will assess progress towards the target and report regularly to parliament on that progress.”
“This is an important accountability mechanism that doesn’t currently exist under the Coalition. While we do have EPA reporting, its not as dependent or transparent as what Labor’s proposing,” says Smith.
A group of 8 independent candidates have also stepped forward to take a stand against new coal and gas. They, alongside the Greens, “are pushing for new planning controls to halt the Narrabri Gas Project and effectively stop new high-emission coal and gas projects” says Clyde.
Independents and the Greens are also calling for impacts to climate to be considered in all new planning developments.
Labor better on renewables in grid
Both major parties have espoused significant investments in upgrading grid transmission and storage infrastructure permitting the uptake of more renewable energy.
The Coalition has pledged an additional $380 million over the next four years for the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap as well as boosting their Clean Energy Superpower Fund by $300 million.
Labor has committed to standing up the $1 billion Energy Security Corporation which will be focused on co-investment in renewable energy assets such as hard-to-finance storage capacity.
For Smith, both these policies are very similar. “I think both parties have identified the difficulties in despatchable generation as a problem. They both provide a solution for it, and so I’d welcome both policies. Obviously, Labor’s is a billion dollars, whereas the Coalition is $300 million. However, I think there’s a lot more common than there is different.”
Clean Energy Council backed Labor’s plan with chief executive Kane Thornton praising the initiative for appearing to have “struck the right balance … to ensure the state remains a beneficiary for private investors”.
Pipeline Rumble: farmers the final line of defence in Narrabri fight over Santos gas fracking
Callum Foote was a reporter for Michael West Media for four years.