<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2023/oct/12/australias-resources-minister-sees-a-gas-fired-future-just-as-international-experts-chart-the-fossil-fuels-decline>
"Sitting on a giant pile of fossil fuels in a year set to go down as the
hottest on record – pockmarked by one flame-grilled disaster after another –
requires some careful and creative public positioning.
One must be careful not to completely ignore the climate crisis while trying to
navigate a path that continues to justify drilling and burning Australia’s
fossil fuel
du jour – gas.
Speaking to the
Australian Financial Review’s Climate and Energy Summit this
week, the resources minister, Madeleine King, reached for the compass in an
1,800-word speech that backed gas, which would be “part of the world’s energy
mix for the foreseeable future.”
Australia would continue to be a trusted and reliable supplier of liquified
natural gas, King told the summit. The country’s gas was helping the region
prosper.
“The [International Energy Agency] has acknowledged that in all of its
transition scenarios, continued investment in gas will be needed to meet
demand,” she said.
The IEA last month updated its thinking on how economies could collectively
work to meet a global goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
King’s interpretation of the IEA’s official position isn’t wrong, but
importantly – given she is speaking about the future of energy – it is
incomplete.
What the IEA also said last month was that “no new long-lead time upstream oil
and gas projects” were needed in its net zero scenario (and neither are new
coalmines or “unabated” coal power plants).
Even without any new climate policies, the speed of the rollout of clean energy
meant the agency was now projecting that “demand for coal, oil and natural gas
will all peak this decade”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
