Federal Energy Minister, Angus Taylor, says he thinks Australia should have a "gas-fired recovery" - but his plan is terrible for climate justice!
The Minister told the Age and SMH that gas development provides an "opportunity for strategic economic stimulus in Australia to aid the recovery."
Building off the deal struck with NSW in February, and the decision in March by the Dan Andrews government to scrap its onshore gas moratorium, funding from the $1 billion Underwriting New Generation Investment fund could be accessed to develop projects.
This means more fracking against First Nations Peoples' will, more gas mining on farms, more gas mining off our coastline. It means more greenhouse gas emissions. It means putting off the transition we need to shift our economy to renewable energy. Investing in new fossil fuel development simply locks us in to oil and gas use when the climate science clearly shows us that we need to transition away from these energy sources urgently.
UN climate official Christiana Figueres is correct in saying "Ensuring a liveable planet for future generations means getting serious about phasing out coal, oil and gas."
"Countries such as Costa Rica, Spain and New Zealand are already showing the way forward, with policies to constrain exploration and extraction – others must now follow their lead". Instead Australia is pushing for more fossil fuel development.
Add your voice to the call for a climate justice recovery! Now is the time to revolutionise our economy and rid ourselves of fossil fuel dependence.
Fossils fuels are responsible for nearly 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, and in 2019, global emissions hit their highest level yet. According to the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) Australia is already producing well beyond it's fair share of greenhouse gas emissions if we want to limit overall warming to 1.5°C.
Yet cheap and renewable alternatives are more abundant than ever. There are great opportunities for Australia to replace fossil fuel exports with green hydrogen. We could export renewable energy via undersea cables, like the SunCable proposal to export power to Singapore. The fact is countries like Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and other parts of South East Asia will have trouble decarbonising and in some cases lifting themselves out of energy poverty without our help. We have some of the best solar and wind resources in the world. We should use this to create jobs at home and renewable energy which can be exported to our region.
At the domestic level, we have the ability to shift to a mix of renewables, energy efficiency and energy storage - which means local jobs, cheaper energy bills, and an opportunity for local manufacturing.
We need to use this opportunity to drive renewable energy jobs, and listen to front line community voices.