Australia’s bet on natural gas endangers its climate credentials, experts say

30/5/2025 14:53

Australia's approval of a 40-year extension for a huge gas project has overshadowed its bid to host a United Nations climate summit next year and tarnishes its green credentials, experts and two Pacific climate ministers said.



This week's decision by the centre-left government, which took power in 2022 with a mandate for climate reform, clears Woodside Energy's North West Shelf project to run until 2070, subject to a final review.



The step was hailed by the company and the energy industry, which see continued operation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants as a cleaner alternative to fuels such as coal.



But it was criticised by climate ministers from Tuvalu and Vanuatu, who say the project's emissions could put at risk their nations' very existence, as well as by climate scientists worried about Australia's role in global emissions.



"It's just a staggering number of extra emissions," said Malte Meinshausen, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne.



Woodside estimates the extension will pump out a further 4.3 billion tons of carbon emissions over the plant's lifetime.