The Victorian Greens will today introduce a motion to the Victorian Parliament that, if passed, would require the state government to produce all documents related to its recently announced brown-coal-to-hydrogen project.
Last week it was revealed that Treasurer Tim Pallas had secured a deal with Japan to allocate $2.35 billion dollars towards a project to convert Australia’s dirtiest coal into clean hydrogen for export to Japan, and use as-yet-unproven ‘carbon capture and storage’ technology.
However, the project is not yet a done deal and will likely require sign off from the state’s Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, who is reportedly against it.
The Greens’ motion would provide transparency around the fossil fuel project and lay bare its climate and environmental impacts.
Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell, said the Victorian Labor Government purported to care about climate change, but at the same time were supporting extending the use of brown coal and supporting other fossil fuel projects including gas drilling near the 12 Apostles.
She added that in the middle of a climate crisis every decision mattered, and it beggared belief that the Government in Victoria was actively supporting new brown coal and gas projects.
As stated by Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell MP:
“It’s totally inappropriate that the Labor Treasurer is flying overseas to spruik new uses for dirty brown coal in Victoria, when the climate emergency means we need to be phasing out coal entirely.
“It’s criminal for the Labor Government to support new uses for dirty brown coal in the face of climate change.
“Experts have already estimated this brown-coal-to-hydrogen project would increase our emissions to the equivalent of between 550,000 to 735,000 extra petrol cars on the road, because the so-called ‘carbon capture and storage’ technology it relies on has not been proven to work at this scale.
“Labor in Victoria is desperately trying to make new coal and gas projects stack up, when they should be focused on scaling up renewable energy with storage, as well as getting our homes and businesses off gas.
“Victorians deserve to know exactly what support the Labor Government is giving these climate-destroying projects, and how much they will cost Victorians.”
