Fossil gas: Labor ministers reject proposal to dump “natural” gas marketing ploy

Labor states have nixed a proposal to officially rename “natural gas” to “fossil gas” to reflect its impact on emissions and climate.

The proposal was put to the meeting of state and federal energy ministers last Friday by the ACT’s Shane Rattenbury, a Greens minister in a Labor/Greens territory government, but it didn’t get support from any ministers at the meeting.

“I did not get support on that one,” Rattenbury told RenewEconomy on Monday.

The rejection was not surprising given the heavy dependence on some states on gas, either as a key part of their electricity generation mix, or because of significant exports in the form on LNG (liquefied national gas) for states such as Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory.

Rattenbury is the only Greens energy minister in Australia. All the rest are Labor, apart from Tasmania’s Guy Barnett, a Liberal.

His objection to the “natural gas” moniker is that it is essentially a misleading marketing term employed by the gas industry, and it is a fossil fuel that is playing a major role in rising emissions and global warming.

Rattenbury says now is a good time to change the moniker given that there are going to be changes to the legislation enabling gas to be described as “renewable” gas and “hydrogen” gas.

“It’s the ideal time to call fossil gas, or methane, for what it is.” He says It’s clear that natural gas is just a marketing term used to “captivate and appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. This is despite the known impact natural gas has on the acceleration of climate change.”

Last week, the planet experienced a series of global and regional heat records that according to scientists were astounding in both scope and persistence, and the world is now heading for its hottest year on record.

“We believe that in order to address the climate crisis holistically, the government must step in to ensure consumers are getting accurate advertising information,” Rattenbury says.

“In this case, we are calling to ensure natural gas is marketed as a fossil fuel – reflecting its impact on our climate.”

The ACT, of course, is taking the lead in the fight to kick gas out of the energy mix, banning it from 2045 as part of its net zero plans for that date.

It has already banned gas connections from new suburbs, and more recently from new homes and buildings.

The ACT already sources the equivalent of all its electricity consumption from wind and solar, and is now increasing its supplies of wind, solar and battery storage to support the electrification of transport and buildings.

Its commitment to renewables is already paying handsome dividends, with consumers in the ACT protected from the sharp rise in electricity bills that has afflicted the rest of the country because of its wind and solar supply.

Under the contracts struck with wind and solar farms, any excess profits earned from high electricity prices by those wind and solar farms are returned to the ACT and its electricity consumers.

Note: RenewEconomy has been using the term “fossil gas” rather than “natural gas” for some time and will continue to do so.