AWU wants Govt to look at plan to trap CO2 under depleted offshore gas fields

Australia’s biggest energy and resources union – the Australian Workers Union - wants the Federal Government to provide R&D funds to research and study the potential of creating new climate change jobs in Australia based on trapping CO2 offshore.

" We could become a global leader in tackling climate change, and help create hundreds of new climate change jobs in regional Australia, if we invested in storing industrial carbon emissions under the sea near our gas fields," AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes said.

" Ground-breaking work like this would secure the job futures for the many families who feel their livelihoods are threatened by the Climate Change debate.

Secure the jobs of thousands of AWU members

" These workers and their communities have already suffered enormously at the hands of the global economy over the last few decades.

Govt and private sector should fund feasability study

" Our large energy and industrial companies should work with Federal Government authorities to produce Australian data to confirm the feasibility of a similar project here," Paul Howes said.

The proposal would see the creation of a carbon capture and storage network which would connect major producers of carbon emissions and remove their CO2 emissions via a pipeline leading to the seabed.

" The Brits are moving forward on this idea - we should not be left behind," the AWU leader said.

" Our union is keen to work with governments, to craft the necessary and scientifically based solutions to global warming, but we must make sure that we do not worsen the plight of the families on the Climate Change front-line," Paul Howes said.

Share the benefits with working communities hit hardest

The AWU expects to release a major discussion paper in the next few months proposing alternative, necessary and scientific based solutions to the Climate Change debate.

" We can't stop using fossil fuels altogether, but what we can look to do is develop the assets that already exist and new infrastructure to bury carbon dioxide deep under the sea where it can't escape into the atmosphere.

" Capturing carbon emissions on a massive scale will make a major contribution to any Federal Government target to reduce our carbon footprint.

Plan to secure existing jobs in steel, alumina and metallurgical mining

" Our economy will also benefit from inward investment as companies from across Australia and Asia see new opportunities in regional Australia as the place where industrial CO2 can be safely captured and stored."