MIAL welcomes budget commitments to low carbon fuel production
Australia’s domestic shipping industry urgently needs access to low carbon fuels and MIAL welcomes the range of measures announced in last night’s 2024-25 Federal Budget supporting the accelerated development of a domestic low carbon fuel industry.
With long asset life and heavy reliance on liquid fuels, decarbonisation of the maritime sector is recognised as a global long-term challenge. Our domestic operators have very few options available to access low carbon liquid fuels in the face of increasing regulatory requirements to reduce carbon intensity.
The size and scale of global maritime decarbonisation requires investment and policy settings that support the development of sustainable fuel production and infrastructure to assist the industry to transform at the speed of relevance. The Federal budget has demonstrated the Government’s commitment to positioning Australia as a regional future fuel leader by:
- Providing $1.7 billion over the next decade to support the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to provide a transition pipeline for net-zero innovations (including liquid fuels) via the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund
- Committing $18.5 million over four years to develop a certification scheme for low-carbon liquid fuels. This will include the expansion of the Guarantee of Origin Scheme
- Delivering $1.5 million funding over two years from 2024-25 to analyse the potential impacts of demand-side regulatory settings for low carbon liquid fuels
MIAL has long advocated for the application of supply and demand side policy measures to enable scaling up of local supply and support uptake at a reasonable price. This Federal budget makes significant progress.
MIAL looks forward to continuing to work with the Albanese Government and relevant departments to ensure maritime emissions reduction is achieved, in collaboration with the Australian shipping industry, and recognises the specific requirements of the sector.
Angela Gillham, MIAL CEO says:
“MIAL this week has welcomed 200 industry stakeholders, policy makers and global shipping experts to the 4th Maritime Decarbonisation Summit in Brisbane, focussing on policy and regulation as an enabler, energy production and green molecule transport and infrastructure and port readiness.
“The delivery of the 2024-25 Federal budget during the Maritime Decarbonisation Summit has provided the industry with the confidence that the Albanese government has listened to sector specific concerns and is committed to creating an environment that will support innovation in the development of alternative low-carbon fuels.
“This is a landmark budget for building resilience in our regional fuel supply and ensuring the acceleration toward a sovereign low-carbon fuel future. MIAL congratulates the Albanese Government for investing in our national maritime resilience.”
