An ambitious plan for the Northern Territory to become one of the first places in the world to import and store carbon emissions has sparked concern that it could turn Darwin into “a dumping ground for the world’s climate pollution”.
This month, the NT government announced it was pushing ahead with a deal with Dutch global tank storage company Vopak to import foreign liquid carbon dioxide (CO2).
Vopak plans to build a CO2 import terminal at the Middle Arm Industrial Hub on Darwin Harbour by the early 2030s, where ships will deliver CO2, most likely from Japan.
The Middle Arm Precinct will be located on Darwin Harbour. (Supplied)
The CO2 would be unloaded from ships into storage tanks with a capacity of at least 5 million tonnes and then eventually pumped via a pipeline into deep underground reservoirs in the seabed off the coast of Darwin for permanent storage.
Every year, humans pump billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, primarily through burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, which is driving global temperatures to record levels.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly warned that to prevent the most severe impacts of climate change, global emissions must fall to net zero by 2050.
Matthias Raab, a geoscientist and the chief executive of CO2CRC, one of Australia’s leading carbon capture and storage (CCS) research and development companies, said “geological carbon storage” was one of the key solutions.
Matthias Raab (left) says CO2CRC has been operating a geological carbon storage research project in Australia for over 16 years. (Supplied: CO2CRCÂ )
“Reducing carbon dioxide emissions globally is one of the greatest priorities of our generation,” he said.
“But not every country [can] store carbon dioxide deep under our feet.”
Dr Raab said the NT had two offshore locations that could store “decades, if not centuries” worth of CO2 — in the Bonaparte Basin and the depleted Bayu-Undan gas field.
“In terms of the economic opportunity, the scale is enormous,” he said.
Leak poses ‘suffocation’ risk
But CCS technology — essentially sucking pollution out of the atmosphere and trapping it somewhere — is still unproven at scale.
Environment Centre NT director Kirsty Howey said importing CO2 from other countries risked turning Darwin into “a dumping ground for the world’s climate pollution.”
“We’re talking about these projects happening smack bang in the middle of Darwin Harbour, just a few kilometres from where people live,” she said.
Kirsty Howey say the NT government has lost the public’s trust that it will “do the right thing”. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)
“If there’s a rupture or a leak, it’s not like methane, which disappears into the air, [the CO2] could actually move over the suburbs of Palmerston or Darwin and suffocate human populations.
“We have had scandal after scandal that have seriously undermined the public’s trust in the NT government to do the right thing and protect the environment and communities.
“This is a fig leaf for mass expansion of the fossil fuel industry.”
The NT government and Vopak declined to comment.
Inpex CCS plans underway
According to a report by the Climate Council, more than $4 billion in public money has been spent on developing CCS globally since 2003, yet it has “consistently failed to deliver promised results.”
This month, Inpex lodged plans with the federal Environment Department to advance a CCS project in the Bonaparte Gulf, about 250 kilometres south-west of Darwin.
The joint venture with Santos would be the first offshore CCS project in Australia and the biggest.
Japanese company Inpex in planning to build an offshore CCS project in the Bonaparte Gulf. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Dr Raab said it was important Australia forged ahead with “innovative” projects like Inpex’s as other countries accelerated their investment in the industry.
He said he was also confident that vast amounts of CO2 could be stored safely “for millions of years”.
While the industry is still in the early stages of development, he pointed to studies that suggest a $600 billion opportunity for Australia to become a carbon storage hub over the next three decades.
Carbon capture a solution or distraction?
Two CCS projects are already in operation elsewhere in the country, but neither has achieved complete success.
Gorgon, in Western Australia, has stored large volumes of CO2 but has struggled to meet its original targets, while Moomba in South Australia is performing well so far but is still in its first year of operation and remains unproven at scale.
Dr Raab said Federal and Northern Territory laws needed to allow Australia to import CO2 from other countries were still being developed.
“The federal government has consulted widely, has considered the input from the industry, and is in the process of finalising bilateral agreements with our neighbouring countries,” Dr Raab said.