Latest news with #BurrupPeninsula
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Revealed: the astonishing greenhouse gas emissions that will result from the North West Shelf project
Woodside's North West Shelf gas project on the Burrup peninsula in Western Australia is one of the world's largest liquified natural gas ventures. In May the Labor government approved an extension for the project to run for an additional 40 years, from 2030 to 2070. The extension is expected to be responsible for about 87.9m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year in the decades ahead, after the gas has been exported and burned, according to Woodside's own numbers. Despite the North West Shelf contributing 'almost nothing' in terms of Australian tax dollars, it will be responsible for emissions greater than dozens of countries and many of the world's biggest companies. It can be hard to get your head around numbers this big. This chart represents 87.9m tonnes of emissions (measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2-e). Each square is 500 tonnes, which is about what you would emit if you drove around Australia 125 times in an average car (which we define below the chart). Notes and methods: North West Shelf project extension emissions are scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions set out in the EPA application Qantas domestic emissions are scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2023-24 as reported to the Clean Energy Regulator Australian total agriculture emissions are the sum of agricultural emissions in the December 2024 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Emissions from all Australian gas plants derived from the primary fuel type in the 2023-24 electricity sector emissions data Switzerland and Ireland total 2023 emissions sourced from Our World in Data Apple's emissions based on information from its 2024 environmental progress report, with more information about why renewable energy certificates and offsets are excluded here Driving around Australia emissions estimated for doing the M1 'big lap' with a fuel consumption of 6.9L/100km
ABC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Government to protest UNESCO concerns for Murujuga rock art in Paris, after Woodside gas approval
Government officials will head to a UNESCO meeting "in force" to push Australia's case to add an area of ancient Aboriginal rock art to the World Heritage list, weeks after approving the extension of a nearby major gas project. The United Nations has warned it may knock back Australia's bid to add the 40,000-year-old Murujuga petroglyphs in West Australia to the World Heritage List, indicating concern in its draft decision about acidic emissions from the nearby North West Shelf gas facility. Environment Minister Murray Watt last month approved a 40-year licence extension of Woodside's North West Shelf gas project on the Burrup Peninsula, sparking concern among some Aboriginal elders and environmental groups that the World Heritage listing was now in jeopardy. Senator Watt said he would send a delegation of officials to Paris for the UNESCO World Heritage meeting in July to convince international delegates the Australian government can manage both industry and the environment. "The Australian government will be there in force to join the traditional owners in their campaign to have this landscape listed and we're very hopeful that that will occur," he said. "We don't want to see that rock art damaged. The area, known as the Murujuga Cultural Landscape, is home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of petroglyphs in the world. The UNESCO draft decision referred the nomination back to the Australian government to allow it to "prevent any further industrial development adjacent to, and within, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape". But the federal and WA governments dispute the Woodside project is having an impact on the rock art. After UNESCO's draft decision was issued, the WA government released its most recent rock art monitoring report, which found while there may have been some degradation of the petroglyphs over time, air quality had improved. That report found the pollutants of most concern were lower than guideline levels, while changes to rock porosity (the open spaces in rocks) had occurred in the past when emissions from industry were higher than they are now. Senator Watt said the draft decision had contained "inaccuracies". "For starters, there are basic dates wrong within the decision," he said. "There's a misunderstanding of how Australian environmental laws really work." The heritage listing bid is being backed by the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, which worked with the WA government on the rock art monitoring report. Corporation chair Peter Hicks will go to Paris alongside government officials to lobby UNESCO to list the rock art, which he described as being "everything" to traditional custodians of the site. He said he was comfortable with assurances from the rock monitoring report that the Woodside project was not currently harming the art. "If there was a hint that it was not right, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation would stand up and say so," he said. "We are going to Paris with the mindset that we will come home with our inscription." Mr Hicks also accused environmental campaigners who have fought against the Woodside extension of using the process for political gain. "Our inscription of World Heritage Listing is being used as a political pawn in a game … for their own political agendas," he said. Raelene Cooper is one high-profile Pilbara Aboriginal elder who has lobbied against the extension of the Woodside gas project, and is pursuing legal action against the federal government to try to stop it. Ms Cooper backed the listing of the site on the World Heritage register, but believed a listing years ago may have prevented the government from approving the gas extension. "It should have been listed many, many years ago," she said. "While we're hoping and crossing fingers … there needs to be measures put in place where there is those protections." But Ms Cooper, who is no longer part of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, said the government's intentions in Paris were disingenuous. "I believe that they are going there to justify what they've already done out here," she said.
Reuters
13-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Woodside, Australian gov't extend consultation period for North West Shelf environmental approval
June 13 (Reuters) - Woodside Energy ( opens new tab and the Australian government said on Friday they have extended the consultation period for conditions tied to the environmental approval of the firm's North West Shelf LNG project extension, following conditional clearance last month. The project, located in the Burrup peninsula in Western Australia, is the country's oldest and largest LNG plant and a key supplier to Asian markets. Environmental groups have long opposed its extension on concerns that the emissions could affect the ancient Murujuga rock art in the area, which is culturally and spiritually significant to Indigenous Australians. However, last month Australia conditionally approved Woodside's request to extend the life of the plant until 2070, following a six-year review. The approval was subject to conditions, particularly the impact of air emissions. The extension is expected to generate up to 4.3 billion metric tons of carbon emissions over its lifetime. "Woodside recognises the importance of the matters being addressed by the proposed conditions of the environmental approval including cultural heritage management and air quality," the company said, adding it is in continuing "constructive consultation" with the government. Woodside's partners in the North West Shelf venture include units of BP (BP.L), opens new tab, Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab, Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab, Japan's Mitsui & Co (8031.T), opens new tab and Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T), opens new tab and China's CNOOC ( opens new tab.
Daily Mail
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Indigenous and climate advocates team up to take on global energy company and protect rock art
A bid to compel the government to consider a heritage application to protect Indigenous rock art is going to court as three environmental activists declare they 'successfully hoaxed' Woodside. The preliminary hearing follows Environment Minister Murray Watt's interim approval of Woodside's North West Shelf extension until 2070, a controversial gas project in Western Australia. The call has flared tensions, with environmental and Indigenous groups arguing it will slow efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and have a ruinous effect on nearby ancient petroglyphs. Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper said she was thrilled the case against the newly appointed environment minister was moving forward without further delays. 'It's rude to have someone waiting for such a long time,' the Save our Songlines co-founder said outside the Federal Court in Sydney. The court determined Ms Cooper's case would be heard in the week of July 14. Senator Watt attached heritage and air quality conditions to the approval and those are yet to be formally agreed to by the Australian energy giant. Ms Cooper said the North West Shelf and other industrial developments at Woodside's Burrup Hub posed risks to the rock art - concerns and evidence laid out in full in a cultural heritage assessment the minister is yet to consider. The Burrup Peninsula, in WA's Pilbara region and known as Murujuga to traditional owners, contains some of the world's largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs. The 'section 10' heritage application was originally lodged in early 2022. 'I am furious that the minister would make a decision to lock in ongoing and irreversible damage to my country before addressing my application,' Ms Cooper said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the conditions attached to the pending approval of the North West Shelf extension would address concerns about the rock art. 'The local Aboriginal corporation there, I've met with them in the past, they're very supportive of industry,' he told ABC radio on Friday. 'They want to make sure there's protection, but they support those jobs and that economic activity.' In a separate case, three protesters were fined $10,000 each after targeting a Woodside annual general meeting with stench gas and flares. Disrupt Burrup Hub's Gerard Mazza, Jesse Noakes and Tahlia Stolarski pleaded guilty to charges laid over their protest at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in April 2023. 'Today we were fined for attempting to create false belief - in other words, we pranked Woodside,' Ms Stolarski told supporters outside Perth District Court after the verdict. 'We are guilty of pulling off a highly successful hoax. 'One day, perhaps Woodside and the WA government will be pulled before a court like this one (and) be charged with much more serious crimes, and their victims will be future generations and all life on earth.'
ABC News
29-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Indigenous groups vow to keep fighting extension of Woodside's North West Shelf
Traditional owners and environmentalists have pledged to continue fighting Woodside's massive North West Shelf (NWS) project by switching their focus to the development of the Browse Basin gas fields off WA's Kimberley coast. The groups have long argued Woodside's industrial developments pose a threat to the ancient rock art in the Murujuga National Park on the Burrup Peninsula. On Wednesday, the federal government approved the company's proposal to continue its NWS operation until 2070. Browse is one of the country's biggest untapped resource projects and is considered a crucial gas supply for the NWS. "See you in court," was the reaction from Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman who launched a legal bid last week in the federal court to prevent the extension. Ms Cooper's son, Mark Clifton, said the legal fight to protect Murujuga was far from over. "We're standing side by side together as we did the last time," he said. Murujuga custodian Josie Alec said it was a "disgrace" to think industry and culture could co-exist. "This is the battle of all battles," she said. She said there were legal challenges "in the wings" and traditional owners would look towards the outstanding approval for Woodside's Browse project to disrupt the future of the North West Shelf. "There's always hope," she said. "[Browse] is 900 kilometres of pipeline through a pristine seabed which also will feed into [the North West Shelf] "Without that gas, this processing facility can't go ahead." University of Western Australia emeritus law professor Alex Gardner said there was an arguable case to challenge the yet to be approved Browse project off the Kimberley coast. The decision to extend the license for the North West Shelf until 2070 is seen a vital stepping stone to the development of Browse, which is likely to be the mother of all environmental fights. Woodside plans to develop 50 production wells in the Browse basin off the Kimberley coast, which will be connected to the North West Shelf processing plant through a 900-kilometre pipeline. If approved, most of the gas from Browse will be exported overseas, which could provide an avenue to launch legal action. Professor Gardner said judicial authorities in Europe would take 'scope three' emissions — those emitted in the countries where the gas is exported — into account when assessing the viability of a new gas field. "Maybe that's the clue here," he said. The proximity of the Browse gas field to Scott Reef has alarmed environmental groups. The reef is home to endangered whales, turtles and thousands of corals. Greenpeace said it was "appalled" by the approval of the North West Shelf extension, vowing to campaign against the Browse project. "We don't have any faith that [Woodside] are a safe operator to be able to have a production this close and at this scale to a pristine reef," WA campaign lead Jeff Bice said. "We know now that we have to increase the pressure to make sure that Environment Minister [Murray] Watt doesn't then approve the Browse proposal. "That's the whole purpose that Woodside made this extension and it's a terrible, dirty, polluting project that puts endangered species at risk."
