Videos
Jody Bruce talks about our work with Regions
While the transition to net zero is a national and international challenge, it’s in Australia’s regional areas that’ll play out on the ground.
Areas like Kwinana and the Pilbara in WA, the Hunter and Illawarra in NSW and Gladstone in QLD.
These regions are economic powerhouses with close ties to the hard to abate industries.
Maintaining their ongoing prosperity and resilience in the face of the transition is important. The challenge should not be underestimated. This massive transformation of industry is required at a scale not seen in recent memory.
But the net zero transition will also develop new industries and opportunities for these regions.
We’ll see diversification of the mining sector as the need for critical energy minerals increases.
There will be new jobs in renewable energy generation and manufacturing. There’ll be changes in agriculture and Land Management practices that will build both climate and food resilience.
This isn’t just a question of technological innovation. The net zero transition means new ways of doing things at all levels.
The Towards Net Zero Mission is working hand in hand with these regions in transition, bringing together stakeholders from across research, industry, government and the community, to navigate the transition and create a shared vision for their unique futures.
We are in discussion with federal and state governments, regional councils and community groups and local businesses to help equip them with the tools and frameworks to navigate this complex environment.
Already we are developing low emissions pathways for agribusiness in QLD.
As outlined in our report low emissions pathways for QLD agrifood, which was developed
through a codesign innovation process with government, industry and NGOs.
We are also working on the Australian Energy Transitions Initiative in partnership with Climate-KIC.
A recent initiative report found that the key regions of the Pilbara, Kwinana, Hunter, Illawarra and Gladstone hold substantial opportunities for emissions reduction if effective action is taken.
It identified there is the potential to abate 70 megatons of carbon dioxide across these regions and that’s equivalent to removing all the petrol and diesel cars and light vehicles in Australia today. We also need to look at the regions outside those key areas.
We are providing support to the Regional Australia Institute to look more broadly at the vulnerability and opportunities in other regions so they too can benefit from the opportunities in a low carbon future.
The type of change needed in the transition to a net zero future won’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen through individual organisations acting alone. Only a mission-like approach can see Australia through the transition to net zero and realise the opportunities of a low emissions future.
Jody Bruce talks about our work with Regions
Warren Flentje talks about low emissions steel
The iron and steel sector is an industry of great economic value to Australia and to the rest of the world. Australia produces almost half of the world’s iron ore and this represents the nation’s largest single source of export revenue, bringing in $153 billion last financial year.
But steelmaking is an emissions intensive process. The process of turning iron ore into steel currently contributes around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To meet climate commitments, the international steel industry will need to transition at a much faster rate. Reducing emissions from the steel industry will require fundamental changes to the entire supply chain.
This presents a major challenge to Australia as a large scale producer of medium grade ore, but it’s also a major opportunity to combine our ores with renewable energy resources if new technologies can be developed and deployed quickly and at scale.
Australia has some of the world’s largest iron ore resources and efficient supply chains. It has highly innovative ore processing expertise and some of the world’s greatest renewable energy potential. So we have a unique opportunity to reduce the emissions associated with steelmaking.
Our Towards Net Zero Mission is working with major iron ore producers and international steelmaking partners, across a range of relevant areas to develop some of the key technologies and processes that will help get steel to net zero.
This includes our new Australia India Green Steel Partnership which will underpin a significant body of work to look at preprocessing of Pilbara and Indian ores to make them amenable to low emission steel production.
The mission is also playing a significant brokering role between government and industry players to explore options for green steel processing here in Australia.
We have both an opportunity to have a major emissions impact as well as an opportunity to create
more value in Australia and with our major trading partners by developing new technologies or processes for converting our ore into the kind of feed that is suitable for a future steel industry. By cooperating with our major customers through efforts like the Towards Net Zero Mission, Australia can support the emergence of a global low emissions steel industry.
Warren Flentje talks about low emissions steel
Towards Net Zero Mission animation
The Towards Net Zero Mission will create new growth industries and jobs for Australia and ensure the ongoing global competitiveness of Australian resources, agriculture and regional communities.