APPEA calls for the end of Australia’s oil and gas industry

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility​ (ACCR) is welcoming APPEA’s newly announced commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, as it implies the end of much of Australia’s oil and gas industry.

APPEA has updated its climate change policy principles for the first time since 2015, which includes its support for net zero emissions by 2050.

This comes one day after ACCR filed shareholder resolutions with two of APPEA’s largest members, Santos and Woodside.

Commenting on APPEA’s updated principles, Dan Gocher, Director of Climate & Environment at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) said:

“APPEA says it supports climate action, but refuses to acknowledge that Australia’s LNG industry has contributed the fastest growing emissions over the last decade.

“The sooner APPEA and its members acknowledge that the LNG industry simply cannot grow any further, the more chance Australia will have of meeting its Paris targets.

“While APPEA’s support for net zero emissions by 2050 is welcome, we’re not convinced APPEA understands what that means: the end of much of Australia’s oil and gas industry.

“APPEA continues to live in a dream world where it claims offsets and unproven technologies such as carbon, capture and storage (CCS) will solve the emissions problem.

“This is simply delusional.

“While referring to the IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, it ignores the IPCC’s conclusion that in the absence of CCS, the share of primary energy provided by gas must decline by 20-25% by 2030, and by 53-74% by 2050 (relative to 2010). This implies the end of much of Australia’s oil and gas industry.

“Throughout the policy document, APPEA makes a number spurious claims, including:

• Calling for the unlimited use of international offsets—because dodgy offsets are the cheapest way for its members to ‘reduce’ emissions;
• Stating that developing countries need affordable energy—when gas is more expensive than almost all the alternatives;
• Claiming that Australia’s LNG exports are displacing coal in Asia—when there is little evidence to suggest this is actually happening.

“But perhaps most brazenly, APPEA claims to have long supported climate policy in Australia, despite campaigning against the carbon price throughout 2012-14, and more recently campaigning against EPA guidelines in Western Australia in 2019.”

Background

• ACCR has filed ‘Say on Climate’ resolutions at APPEA members Santos and Woodside: https://www.accr.org.au/sayonclimate/

• According to the Department of Industry’s Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory to June 2020 (p10):

  • stationary energy excluding electricity sector emissions increased 55.5% (or 36.6 Mt CO2) between 1990 and the year to June 2020;
  • fugitive emissions increased 38.6% (or 13.9 Mt CO2) between 1990 and the year to June 2020; emissions were relatively stable until 2015 when emissions increased strongly as a result of the growth of the LNG industry offset in 2020 by carbon capture and storage and a reduction in flaring activities.

APPEA’s 2015 policy principles compared to its 2021 policy principles: