Resources Minister King urged to correct statement on emissions — The Guardian

In Australia, Resources Minister Madeleine King has been urged to correct her statement that greenhouse gas emissions from developing the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory would be accounted for and offset. This was reported by The Guardian after the official's speech at the National Press Club in Canberra.

The minister's statement

King defended the development of the gas basin south of Darwin, calling it an important resource for the Northern Territory, gas supplies to Australia's east coast and exports. She referred to the 2018 government inquiry known as the Pepper inquiry, which contained 135 recommendations on allowing fracking in the region.

One of the recommendations was to seek to ensure that the development of onshore shale gas fields did not increase Australia's total emissions. This would require fully offsetting emissions associated with the extraction, processing, transportation and use of gas by purchasing carbon credits.

King said that the Northern Territory government had accepted and implemented the inquiry's recommendations. According to her, she understood them to mean that emissions were accounted for and offset, but added that she needed to check this.

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Limits of offsets

As The Guardian writes, the Northern Territory government does not require all emissions from the Beetaloo Basin to be offset. The federal safeguard mechanism applies to facilities with emissions exceeding 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, but covers only direct emissions from businesses rather than the full life cycle of gas.

According to research by Tim Baxter of consultancy Naru Research, about 95% of emissions expected this decade from four gas projects in the Beetaloo Basin will not be subject to offsetting. Baxter said that King was either insufficiently familiar with her briefings or deliberately misleading people.

Acting chief executive of Environment Centre NT Bree Ahrens urged the minister to correct the public record. A spokesperson for King said that Northern Territory governments had consistently accepted and implemented all 135 recommendations of the Pepper inquiry, while the safeguard mechanism requires net-zero emissions from shale gas facilities that exceed the established threshold.