Australia will take an innovative approach to lowering the nations carbon emissions with the federal government announcing it will focus on fostering technological advancement in the field that can provide the country with continued economic growth.
Angus Taylor, the federal minister for emissions reduction, noted on Sept. 22 that although Australia was committed to a goal of net-zero emissions, as set out by the 2016 Paris Agreement, it “cant and shouldnt damage its economy to reduce emissions.”
Taylor, who was announcing the launch of the Low Emissions Technology Roadmap (pdf) said that the government would focus public sector investment on five areas of low emission technological research that would generate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in export revenue.
“Bringing down emissions while strengthening economies isnt the first challenge that humans have had to overcome,” said Taylor. “Weve done this by investing in technology development, by using humans innate ingenuity and enterprise to solve hard problems.”
The government, via the roadmap, will direct $18 billion in public sector funding into five major areas; clean hydrogen, energy storage, low carbon materials for manufacturing, carbon capture and storage, and the soil sequestration of carbon.
Clean hydrogen and the manufacturing of low emissions metals and industrial products is argued by the Grattan Institute to be a developing export market for Australia.
The Institutes “Start with Steel” report (pdf) published in June argued that the sector could bring in $65 billion in export revenue and develop 25,000 manufacturing jobs in just Queensland and New South Wales alone.
According to the roadmap, the government estimates that this initial investment will grow to around $50-$100 billion as the private sector, state governments, and research institutions make parallel investments in the developing technologies. This, in turn, will create 130,000 jobs and generate up to an estimated $30 billion a year in export revenue from energy-intensive, low emissions products.
The Critics Voice Concern
Critics of the new investment strategy are upsetRead More – Source
