The Morrison Government has pledged to invest A$539 million in clean-energy projects in a bid to drive down Australia’s emissions and hopefully create about 2500 jobs.
About $275 million of this would be used to accelerate the development of four additional clean hydrogen hubs in regional Australia and set up a clean hydrogen certification scheme.
The plan is for another $263.7 million that would be available to support development of clean hydrogen, carbon capture, use and storage projects (CCS/CCUS).
Said Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right), announcing the new plan: “It is essential we position Australia to succeed by investing now in the technologies that will support our industries into the future, with lower emissions energy that can support Australian jobs.
“There is a strong appetite from business for the new emissions reduction technologies that they know will be needed to run their operations and keep employing Australians and grow jobs for the future.
“World-leading projects like these are about cutting emissions and creating jobs.”
Energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor said the Government is aiming to meet its 2030 target of net zero emissions. “The Government’s investment will reduce technical and commercial barriers to deploying these technologies,” he said.
“It will encourage new large-scale investment from the private sector, creating jobs and supporting Australia’s economic recovery, particularly in regional areas.”.
The Government has said that it is actively seeking to collaborate on low emissions technologies with Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the US.
Top image: Bexim, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
