Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite find this enormously amusing. I do not find climate change at all amusing. I find it a real challenge for the future, and finding practical ways of responding to climate change is the way ahead. The second reason for a global carbon capture and storage institute is that, when it comes to identifying projects at scale, you need a clearing house around the world to point would-be investors in the direction of those projects that are most ready to go. At present that is simply not happening. We have put together this initiative in close consultation not only with the Australian coal and resource industry but also with various governments around the world, and there has been an initial expression of support from not just the British government but also other governments.

I say to those who simply catcall from opposite and say that there are problems with this: for 12 years there was a lot of time to act on this, and I have to say that across the country and across the world I do not see a whole lot of action resulting from the various speeches made by others when they occupied the treasury benches and had an opportunity to act.

Here is the challenge: the G8 meeting in Hokkaido said that by 2020 we have to have 20 at-scale CCS electricity projects around the world in order to demonstrate to the world that this technology works and at what price it will work. That is the challenge that has been established. The problem is worldwide that there is no capacity that exists at either the technology level or at the financial clearing house level to bring any such projects to fruition. That is why we have decided to provide leadership. That is why when I am in New York I will be canvassing this extensively with world leaders. That is why it will form a large part of the presentation that we make to global governments: because, for this to work, it is not just that it is an Australian initiative that counts; we need global buy-in. For this to work, we need those 20 projects not just to be designed, not just to be talked about, not just to be floated, but also to be delivered in concrete reality on the ground. That is what this institute is about. I would suggest to the sceptics opposite: get behind it and be bipartisan instead of than just talking about bipartisanship as some cute, political ploy.

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