As the Albanese government seeks to hose down fears that its commitment to the Global Methane Pledge will not cripple Australia’s livestock or agricultural production, can it offer the same assurances to the nation’s coal and gas mining sectors?
Federal minister for climate and energy Chris Bowen says Australia has signed up to the “non-binding” pledge that sets an aspirational target to cut global methane emissions across all sectors by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.
“The Australian government will continue to partner with industry to decarbonise the economy and pursue emissions reduction initiatives across energy and waste sectors including capturing waste methane to generate electricity,” Bowen said.
“By joining the Pledge, Australia will join the rest of the world’s major agricultural commodity exporters including the United States, Brazil, and Indonesia in identifying opportunities to reduce emissions in this hard-to-abate sector.”
Bowen goes on to stress, however, that the pledge does not require Australia to focus solely on agriculture, or to reduce agricultural production or livestock numbers.
And to offer further reassurance to farmers, Bowen and the minister for agriculture, Murray Watt, also announced on Monday $5 million in successful grant applications to support R&D for low-emissions feed supplements for grazing animals.
The 11 successful projects will receive between $250, 000 and $700, 000 each under Stage 2 of the Government’s $29 million Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock (MERiL) Program.
‘It’s not about cow burps’
But what does a pledge to slash methane emissions really mean for Australia? Where will those cuts come from? According to the Australian Greens, the real issue here “isn’t cow burps,” but bringing an end to the coal and gas industry’s expansion.
“The pledge is aimed at the tax-dodging coal and gas corporations, not cows and agriculture,” Greens leader Adam Bandt said in a statement issued just over a week ago, when the Albanese government hinted at signing up.
“Signing Joe Biden’s methane pledge means stopping new coal and gas projects, whether through the Safeguard mechanism, a climate trigger or some other means.
“The heavy rain and predicted flooding across much of the east coast is devastating communities, and the coal- and gas-fuelled climate crisis is making it worse,” he said.
Why a global methane pledge?
As Bruce Robertson explains here, methane – the principal component of what is branded ‘natural gas’ – is a powerful greenhouse gas, worse for the climate than coal over the short term. It is over 80 times more powerful than CO2 on a 20-year view.
The Global Methane pledge was formally launched just over a year ago, and has signed up more than 120 countries representing 70% of the global economy and nearly half of anthropogenic methane emissions.
At that time, Australia, under the leadership of the Morrison Coalition government, refused to sign – largely because the Morrison government was banking on a gas-led recovery from Covid-19.
As Robertson wrote in November 2021, “the government is heavily subsidising companies in the production of gas and LNG and is attempting to open up new gas fields in almost every state and territory.
“Instead of reducing emissions, the Australian government wants to see the gas industry – and emissions – grow.”
And despite the change of government this year, little has changed on this front under Labor. Except, perhaps, until now.
What does it mean for coal and gas?
So what does the Albanese government plan to do about coal and gas methane emissions?
According to the release on Monday, further initiatives across waste and energy sectors will include capturing waste methane to generate electricity, and capturing or avoiding fugitives from coal mines and gas infrastructure.
Bowen also says that reforms to the Safeguard Mechanism, introduced by the Coalition, will support emissions reductions in the industrial sector, including reductions of methane emissions from industrial and resource activities.
The Greens’ Bandt says any hope of living up to the targets of the pledge will mean halting massive new gas projects like Betaloo and Scarborough. Simply “offsetting” the emissions of existing projects would not be enough, he said.
“I’m glad the government is listening to the Greens’ long-standing calls for Australia to join US President Biden’s global methane pledge, but putting it into practice means stopping new coal and gas mines,” Bandt said.
“Labor can’t sign the methane pledge today and then open up new coal and gas mines tomorrow.”
