The Australian government is to invest in clean hydrogen and carbon capture technologies, supporting Australian industry and manufacturing into the future.
On 21 April, it announced that the 2021-22 Budget will see AUS$539.2mn invested in new clean hydrogen and carbon capture, use and storage (CCS/CCUS) projects, creating around 2,500 jobs and further driving down Australia’s emissions. It has allocated AUS$275.5mn to accelerate the deployment of an additional four clean hydrogen hubs in regional Australia – plans for a network of hydrogen technology clusters were unveiled in February – and implement a clean hydrogen certification scheme. For CCS/CCUS projects and hubs, it has allocated AUS$263.7mn to support their development.
The plans fall under Australia’s Technology Investment Roadmap, which is aiming to cut emissions and reduce energy costs, guiding AUS$18bn of government investment over the next 10 years. It will also drive at least AUS$70bn of total new investment into low emissions technologies in Australia by 2030. It noted that such investment will continue contributing to Australia’s success in both meeting and surpassing its emission reduction targets. In 2020, Australia beat its target by 459mn tonnes and it is on track to pass its 26-28% 2030 Paris Agreement target.
