Australian industries are being supported to cut more than 1 million tonnes of climate pollution a year with a $91 million investment under the Powering the Regions Fund.
Following a $330 million investment in nine projects in April this year, the Powering the Regions Fund is supporting six new projects to help significantly cut emissions from some of Australia’s largest emitters. Each dollar of support will unlock two dollars of industry investment in these projects.
The projects will lower energy use, swap out fossil fuels with cleaner alternatives and cut more than 1 million tonnes of climate pollution each year.
The projects are in the aluminium, mining, fuel refining and chemical production industries, which will create new jobs and support existing jobs in regional communities across Australia.
A total of $37.2 million is being provided to reduce ventilation methane emissions at Kestrel Coal in the Bowen Basin, Queensland.
Other projects include $7.5 million to install a low emission waste gas incinerator at CSBP Limited’s sodium cyanide plant in Kwinana, Western Australia and $5.4 million for energy efficiency upgrades at the Boyne Aluminium Smelter in Gladstone, Queensland.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the grants would help key industries thrive throughout Australia’s net zero transformation.
“These industries have traditionally been very energy intensive and hard to abate. These grants will help them make their fair contribution to our national targets,” Bowen said.
“The grants unlock technologies that have not been deployed at scale in Australia, including cutting methane from the ventilation air shafts of underground coal mines.
“A number of the projects cut nitrous oxide, which has 265 times more warming potential than CO2. By demonstrating these technologies, they can more quickly be rolled out across Australian industry.”