Fortescue’s statement on the International Energy Agency’s 2023 review of Australia’s Energy Policy.

Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) fully supports the recommendations of the International Energy Agency’s report, “Australia 2023 Energy Policy Review,” which was published today.

FFI is proud to be one of the energy players mentioned by the IEA as key to establishing the 120 gigawatt increase in renewable electricity that will enable Australia’s hydrogen export market.

Australia is already a world leader in green hydrogen technologies such as electrolysis and the global hydrogen trade, the review states. In 2022, for example, Australia ranked second after Europe in total investment in electrolysis – and in total electrolyser capacity expected to come online by 2030.

Other key findings from the report:

• By 2027, Australia’s renewable electricity capacity will rise 85 per cent
• Australian homes have the highest rates of solar in the world
• The amount of time it takes to build renewables projects in Australia is falling, although commissioning lead times have actually increased in some cases
• Public investment in hydrogen R&D has increased since 2018

However, the report also highlights that Australian Government policies remain favourable to fossil fuels.

While hydrogen received 25 per cent of Australia’s energy R&D budget in 2021, fossil fuels received a far higher amount – 34 per cent. In contrast, renewables only received 10 per cent of the budget.

Australia also lags many other major countries on its energy research spend. In 2021, Australia’s public spend on energy RD&D was just 0.019 per cent of GDP, half the IEA average, the report found.

Subsidies for fossil fuels remain high, at around US$11 billion – and have almost doubled in the last ten years. In addition, while Australia’s coal consumption has declined by 23 per cent over the last decade, it still dominates electricity generation, accounting for around 53 per cent in 2021.

Every day counts if we are to halve global emissions by 2030, as required by the latest IPCC report. Political leaders need to act now by limiting the financial incentives given to fossil fuels and instead supporting green energy initiatives.

The technologies we need to solve climate change already exist – they simply need more government support and a major refocus of existing finance.

FFI is committed to generating green energy and green hydrogen at commercial scale and looks forward to working with the Australian government to accelerate our shared vision.

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