The Greens failed to extract from the government a commitment to ban the development of new oil and gas projects outright, but did succeed in having changes made that are likely to curtail some of the industry’s future plans. These include a formal “climate trigger” compelling the environment minister to consider the climate impacts of all new gas projects at the approval stage.

New gas projects for the LNG export market will be required to have net-zero carbon dioxide emissions from their first day of operation. No concessions will be made for those fields where the gas exists with a higher carbon dioxide content. Greens leader Adam Bandt argues this will make proposed projects such as the Barossa gasfield and coal mines that release high levels of methane unviable.

Will it really end about half of the 116 new fossil fuel projects?

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That is impossible to say. The 116 projects mentioned by Bandt were simply proposals registered with the government. There was no guarantee or even expectation that they would all secure the financing to go ahead in a global environment of accelerated energy transition. However, the changes do force their proponents to pay a significant and increasing amount for their greenhouse pollution. This is likely to see some of those projects fall by the wayside.

Additionally, the Climate Change Authority has been mandated to report back on fugitive methane emissions from gas and coal projects by next year. This could see baselines made even tougher for polluting fossil fuel projects become even tougher to meet.