Taylor and department invited Santos to promote CCS in Australia’s pavilion at Glasgow

Federal energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor and the federal energy department activiely sought out the involvement of oil and gas company Santos to be featured in Australia’s official pavilion at high profile international climate talks held in Glasgow last year, senate estimates has heard.

Officials from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources told a senate estimates hearing on Monday that both the department and Taylor wanted to feature an example of an Australian company pursuing carbon capture and storage during last year’s COP26 talks, and had invited Santos to promote itself in the government’s official pavilion.

The Morrison Government attracted scorn from international groups during the COP26 conference, as well as from environmental groups back home, for allowing Australia’s official booth at the international climate talks to be used to feature one of Australia’s largest fossil fuel companies.

Santos branding featured prominently in the pavilion for at least three days of the conference – including the period when Scott Morrison personally attended the COP26 conference – along with a diorama of Santos’ proposed carbon capture and storage project at its Moomba gas facilities.

Santos has proposed to construct a carbon capture and storage project at its Moomba facilities in central Australia and has received a $15 million federal grant to support its development. However, the project is not expected to be operational until 2024.

Queried about the decision to feature Santos, deputy secretary of the industry department, Jo Evans, told senate estimates that the department had invited Santos to participate in the pavilion because it thought the company was a “good representative of carbon capture and storage”.

“We’re not hiding the fact that we invited Santos to be there, after discussions with a range of other departments and also with the minister’s office.

“They are a clear, good, representative of carbon capture and storage. It was appropriate for them to be there. The Prime Minister’s Office and the minister’s office were comfortable with them being a part of the [Pavilion].

“There was definitely interest in having Santos there, both from the department and from the minister because of their representation of one of the technology priorities,” Evans added.

Carbon capture and storage has been included as one of the Morrison government’s five “priority technologies” in its Technology Investment Roadmap to cut emissions.

During the hearing, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young suggested the presence of Santos in the official pavilion made Australia “look like a laughing-stock on the world stage”.

Department officials also confirmed to the senate estimates hearing that the federal government paid $1.074 million to run the pavilion during the two-week climate conference, with the entire bill covered by the federal government.

Other Australian companies, including Fortescue Future Industries, Sun Cable, Gelion and Lavo also had a presence within the pavilion.

During the COP26 talks in Glasgow, Australia refused to join a number of international peers in signing a pledge to curb methane emissions – most of which are released during the extraction and processing of fossil gas.

Officials rejected suggestions that political donations that have been made by Santos had been a factor in securing its presence in the official Australian pavilion at COP26.

Recently published political donations disclosures showed Santos donating $22,000 to the National party and $44,000 to the Labor Party during the 2020-21 financial year. Over the last two decades, Santos has made more than $1 million in political donations across the major parties.

In January, with its status as a pure-play fossil fuel company, Santos had a multi-year sponsorship deal for the Australian Open terminated early by Tennis Australia, leading the Climate Council calling for a similar prohibition on fossil fuel advertising as currently applies to tobacco advertising in many countries.

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