It’s the multi-million dollar question that plagues Australia’s oil and gas industry: How can we keep burning fossil fuels and achieve net zero by 2050?
A key part of the solution, according to proponents, lies in a technology known as carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Across Australia, 10 new offshore areas for oil and gas exploration were approved last week, as were permits for two new offshore greenhouse gas storage facilities.
So does CCS work on a massive scale and is Australia confident in its success in meeting climate targets?
What is carbon capture and storage?
CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide at the production site using engineering techniques, then burying it deep underground where it becomes trapped in a layer of porous rock.
Supporters say it’s a proven technology that will help reduce Australia’s carbon emissions, and directors of major gas companies hailed its potential at a recent minerals conference in Darwin.
But critics argue there is no evidence that it works on a large enough scale to mitigate the effects of climate change.
According to a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), most carbon capture and storage projects around the world are not performing as well as they should.
The Northern Territory government is hedging its bets on the technology, seeing it as a way to open up big gas developments, from the multibillion-dollar Santos Barossa gas project to the Beetaloo Basin, a region the gas industry is holding up as a solution. to Australia’s energy crisis, while delivering on its promise to fully offset all resulting life cycle carbon emissions.
The risk of over-promising
As the looming threat of climate change grows, the prospect of CCS making good on its promise to cut carbon emissions is a welcome relief.
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King says carbon capture and storage has a “vital role to play in helping Australia achieve its net zero targets”.
But there are serious questions among some climate scientists and economists about whether the technology will work on the scale required to help offset emissions from large projects.
Companies are also facing increasing scrutiny for possible “greenwashing,” with gas giant Santos being taken to court for allegedly overstating its “clean energy” credentials.
Mark Ogge, senior climate and energy adviser at the Australia Institute, said CCS technology was “hugely complicated” and could not be used as a “justification for opening up massive new gas fields”.
“Theoretically, CCS can capture a very small percentage of total emissions,” he said.
“But it’s allowing these huge projects that are going to add billions of tons of emissions into the atmosphere, so it’s a fig leaf for the industry to keep expanding.”
‘Fancy term for a dumpster’
If large-scale production from the Beetaloo Basin goes ahead, government estimates show it could release 5 to 39 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere each year.
Tony Wood, director of the energy and climate change program at the Grattan Institute, said: “We’re talking about really large amounts of CO2 here, not just a couple of Coke bottles.”
Wood said that while it is possible to capture carbon dioxide at the production site, the challenge is storing large amounts underground in a safe and affordable way.
“This is basically a fancy term for a dumpster,” Wood said.
“It’s not simple and it’s not cheap.”
Ogge said it was now “much cheaper to produce electricity with renewable energy… than to produce [it] with gas or coal”.
On a smaller scale, Wood said CCS technology could benefit some industries where carbon dioxide production was unavoidable, such as cement production.
“You can not do [cement] of solar energy, you actually have to have the hard physical product, which comes from carbon dioxide,” he said.
Energy companies have been using CCS technology for more than 50 years, with the primary goal of injecting carbon back into the ground to extract more oil.
Although technology has improved since the 1970s, the vast majority of large-scale projects are still plagued by technical problems.
‘An important part of our future’
The oil and gas industry is pouring billions of dollars into new gas and CCS projects, and says it is working toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
The lead body, the Australian Petroleum Exploration and Production Association (APPEA), argues that Australia is in a strong position to take advantage of emerging technologies.
“CCUS [carbon capture, utilisation and storage] and CCS have a key role in reducing the carbon intensity of gas production and supporting the development of blue hydrogen,” APPEA WA director Claire Wilkinson said earlier this year.
“The oil and gas industry is committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with several companies targeting even earlier deadlines.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, NT Mining Minister Nicole Manison said CCS was “a really important part of our future going forward.”
“If we are going to achieve net zero emissions and have a cleaner, greener future, it must have carbon capture and storage,” he said.
Hannah Ekin of the Arid Lands Environment Center states that the NT government’s reliance on CCS as a way to expand new gas projects was an attempt to “have your cake and eat it too”.
“They want to open Beetaloo and create a petrochemical plant in the Middle Arm, at the same time that they can transition to a net-zero economy by 2050,” he said.
“But they have to be realistic. You can’t do these things at once.”
With fresh warnings that Australia’s energy supplies could run out as early as 2025, governments will no doubt face more questions about how to rectify the energy crisis and cut emissions.
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