Canberra Times
Wednesday 24/12/2008 Page: 7
The mining industry might have secured significant concessions in the Government's plan for emissions trading, but fresh data shows it is becoming a worse greenhouse gas polluter with each passing year. Mining companies are heading in the wrong direction on climate change, using more energy and becoming less energy efficient. The industry more than doubled its energy use over the 15 years to 2006. And the amount of energy used per unit of output - called energy intensity - has been increasing by 3.7% a year.
The fight against climate change is generally held to involve using less energy and becoming more energy efficient. The findings are in a report by the Federal Government's Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics. The Government's white paper on emissions trading, issued last week, offered a significant number of free permits to mining companies to shield them from the full costs of emissions trading. Conservationists have strongly opposed the move, while the Government's own climate adviser, Ross Garnaut, said assistance to business was "over the top".
According to analysis commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, mining giants will reap billions of dollars worth of free permits under emissions trading. In the first year of emissions trading in 2010, Rio Tinto will get $462 million in free permits, BlueScope Steel $174 million, and Alcoa $170 million. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics report found mining companies' energy efficiency was getting worse because the industry was going after lower grade ores, and ores which were deeper in the ground. The industry was using more energy in exploration.
The report also found agriculture was heading in the wrong direction on climate, with energy efficiency in decline. But this was because of the drought cutting production. Other industries were headed in the right direction. The construction industry had significantly improved its energy efficiency, while the manufacturing and services sectors had modestly improved their efficiency.
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