Committed to taking practical steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, QRC and its members' endeavour to strike a balance between sustaining economic growth, the need for affordable energy and the global challenge to reduce greenhouse gases.
To meet our future energy needs, whilst simultaneously addressing concerns about greenhouse gases, the development of both clean and renewable energy is critical. Industry and government have a dual role in making this happen.
Clean energy refers to important initiatives such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). With government, the Australian coal industry has invested heavily in CCS technologies. Through the imposition of voluntary levy on coal production, the industry aims to raise $1 billion over ten years to support the pre-commercial demonstration of low emissions technologies in the power generation sector (where over 95 percent of emissions from coal occur) and supporting R&D.
Funding research and development into CCS projects, and assisting the global community to bring these projects to market, are ways that QRC and its members’ aim to offset the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.
QRC supports strong government consultation on long-term, equitable and stable legislative and administrative frameworks for abating greenhouse gases. In the increasingly competitive global market for resources, it would be easy for high carbon costs to decrease Australia’s competitiveness in international markets, where other jurisdictions do not impose comparable carbon costs.
We must ensure that policies to reduce greenhouse gases encourage companies to decrease emissions, whilst not compromising their competitiveness. The QRC with other peak minerals associations has agreed to a set of overriding principles that should guide governments when developing future greenhouse gas policies.
This can be found below along with an overview of the range of initiatives QRC members are undertaking to reduce their carbon footprint.
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