The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, will tomorrow travel to Europe and the Middle East where he will outline Australia's vision of energy security for the 21st Century and call for greater urgency in efforts to deploy carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.
Minister Ferguson will visit Qatar to inspect the largest LNG and gas-to-liquid facilities in the region. Qatar is a world leader in upstream and downstream petroleum production. Minister Ferguson will next week attend the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) in London and the International Energy Agency (IEA) Governing Board Ministerial Meeting in Paris.
Minister Ferguson said: "Australia has an opportunity to help our trading partners meet their growing energy needs through the reliable supply of coal, LNG and uranium. At the same time, Australia's commitment to cleaner energy technologies is being acknowledged internationally, especially our leadership role in carbon capture and storage as well as our significant funding of renewable energy technologies.
"Australia recognises CCS and renewable energies are not competing alternatives, which is why we are investing billions of dollars in both the commercialisation of new solar, geothermal, wave, and energy storage technologies, and the lowering of emissions from traditional fossil fuels."
The Third Ministerial Conference of the CSLF will be held in London on 12-13 October where Minister Ferguson will lead the discussion on knowledge sharing. Minister Ferguson will then travel to Paris for the IEA Governing Board meeting from 14 to 15 October where he will update ministers on global progress in the deployment of CCS.
Minister Ferguson will tell his ministerial counterparts Australia is committed to taking a leadership position on CCS but he will warn that the global response to climate change will be ineffective without accelerating the development and deployment of CCS technology on a widespread, commercial scale.
Minister Ferguson said: "Demand for coal worldwide has been growing faster than any other energy source so a successful global response to climate change depends upon our capacity to deploy CCS at industrial scale.
"Australia has the most comprehensive CCS regulatory framework in the world, we have released the world's first CO2 storage acreage for competitive exploration bids, we are working with China on a range of practical project work, we are investing billions of dollars in CCS projects, and we have funded the Global CCS Institute to accelerate the uptake of CCS."
In London, Minister Ferguson is expected to hold talks with:
- Terje Riis-Johansen, Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Norway
- Mr Ed Milliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, United Kingdom
- Dr Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, United States of America
- Mr Andris Piebalgs, European Commission for Energy
In Paris, Minister Ferguson is planning to hold talks with:
- Ms Chantal Jouanno, Secretary of State for Ecology, France
- Mr Waldemar Pawlak, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, Poland
- Mr Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde, Minister of Power, India
- Mr Masayuki Naoshima, Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan
- Ms Lisa Raitt, Minister for Natural Resources, Canada
Transcripts of the Minister's interventions at the CSLF and IEA Governing Board Meetings will be available at www.ret.gov.au.