The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, will today outline Australia's commitment to clean energy and low-emissions technologies to the Fighting Climate Change with Carbon Capture and Storage Conference in Bergen, Norway.
The conference brings together Ministers from around the world to discuss the latest developments in carbon capture and storage (CCS) with experts, business executives, researchers and non-government organisations. It is an opportunity for Minister Ferguson to showcase the role Australia is playing in furthering the development and deployment of CCS.
Minister Ferguson said: "The reality is that coal will be the world's major source of power generation for many years to come. The 2008 IEA World Energy Outlook forecasts that coal-fired electricity generation's share of global electricity production will actually rise from 41 per cent, to 44 per cent in the two decades to 2030. In Australia, 80 percent of our electricity production is sourced from coal. It is an essential energy source that won't be easily replaced.
"The challenge is to make coal cleaner in a carbon-constrained world and CCS offers the best solution, which is why the Australian Government established the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute last September.
"Since the Institute's formation, it has obtained widespread international support and when it was launched in April by the Prime Minister, it had 85 Foundation Members and collaborating partners, including 16 governments, and more than 60 companies and NGOs.
"Australia is leading by example with a $2.4 billion commitment in the 2009-10 Budget to build two to four industrial-scale CCS demonstration projects in Australia within the next decade."
Minister Ferguson will tell the conference the Australian Government remains committed to introducing an emissions trading scheme and that Australia will commit to an ambitious emissions reduction target of up to 25 per cent by 2020, depending on the outcomes of Copenhagen later this year.
Minister Ferguson will also outline how the Australian Government is continuing to pursue important complementary initiatives such as our Renewable Energy Target - 20 per cent by 2020 - and our 2009-10 Budget which contains $4.5 billion to develop and deploy clean energy technologies, including $1.6 billion for solar.