Stronger price signal could boost Aussie CCS

Australia recently cut some funding for CCS, but reforms to the country’s Safeguard Mechanism may boost the industry

The Australian government has cut a A$250mn ($169mn) funding scheme for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) hubs and technology support in its 2022–23 budget. The move sends the wrong signal to the market on CCUS, thinktank the Global CCS Institute tells Transition Economist. Funding available in Australia is well below levels in Canada, the US and many European countries, which are all offering billions of dollars, the institute says. While the funding was unlikely to establish projects on its own, it “would have acted to attract the required private capital”, the thinktank says. Projects will likely still go ahead, “but this is certainly a speed bump in an energy transition wher