The Morrison government has promised additional funding for start-ups working on technology that can reduce emissions by 2050.
The Morrison government says it will move to legislate a $1 billion fund to encourage investment in Australian companies to develop new low emissions technology.
The government will provide $500 million to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, with the ‘green bank’ to raise the other half from the private sector before the new fund launches.
The fund could support technologies including carbon capture and underground storage, improved solar panels, livestock feed to reduce methane emissions and more efficient batteries.
The federal government recently committed to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 target and has underpinned much of its strategy on technology that hasn’t been invented yet.
The Coalition has rebuffed calls to phase out coal and declined to ramp up its 2030 targets, but it has promoted carbon capture and storage, gas and hydrogen as solutions.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison released a joint statement with Energy Minister Angus Taylor on Tuesday night, saying their government would introduce legislation in this term of parliament to establish the fund.
He and Mr Taylor say they expect the fund to earn a positive return for taxpayers.
Mr Taylor said the technology fund would support fledgling Australian companies to develop their intellectual property.
He said there was a currently a gap in the Australian market, where complex, technology-focused start-ups could be considered to be “too risky” to finance.
Mr Morrison and Mr Taylor were in Melbourne earlier on Tuesday to spruik their new electric vehicles policy, with $250m to install charging stations and other infrastructure in a bid to get 1.7 million low and zero emission cars on the road by 2030.
Mr Morrison savaged Labor’s proposal back in 2019, accusing the party of trying to force Australians to give up their petrol-run cars.
He continues to refuse to release the modelling underpinning his government’s plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 despite criticism that the policies lack credibility.
On Monday, when he was asked by reporters when it would be released, Mr Morrison repeated the word “soon” but gave no indication of a time frame.
Last month, he told parliament the report would be released following his trip to Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit.
Mr Morrison returned to Australia last week.
Originally published as Scott Morrison pledges $1b fund for emissions reduction start-ups
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