Opinion: Gladstone jobs depend on clean energy future but governments must lead the way
Richard Dinnen - Queensland Editor |
Acting Mayor Gladstone Regional Council
I believe the transition to clean, renewable energy is the number one issue for the Gladstone region.
We have a very strong and proud industrial heritage here. We have lots of industry, and we’ve been something of a carbon capital. There are some very carbon intensive processes in most of our industries.
But we have a timeline now. We have 28 years to decarbonise these industries so that we can protect jobs and make sure we’ve got those jobs for future generations.
We must make sure we’ve got access to renewable energies. Wind, solar, batteries, storage, and hydrogen, ammonium, methanol production. All of these green chemicals and green energies are going to be critical.
Our biggest local employer, Rio Tinto, has committed to net zero, and they’re backing that with a $2 billion investment in carbon reduction technologies.
We have the Queensland Government statement of support for a proposed multi-billion chemical complex producing green hydrogen and green ammonia
There’s Alpha HPA making low carbon aluminium, and there’s Fortescue Future Industries working on zero-carbon green hydrogen.
We have lots of projects, and it’s a strong vote of confidence in the Gladstone region that helps position us as a future renewable energy investment and production.
I think our people understand that the world is changing, that the global economy is looking to decarbonise. That’s the way of the future.
We’re working with The Next Economy to run forums across the region. We’re talking to workers and unions, our Traditional Owner groups, about the changes that are coming, and how we can best plan for it.
There’s been some really good engagement, lots of different ideas around how long it might take, how long coal is going to be part of the energy mix. We can have those debates, but I think everyone understands that at some point in the future, whether it’s 10, 20, 30 years, that’s the way the world is moving.
We need to plan and adapt to those changes. If you don’t adapt to change, you perish. There are countless examples of communities across the globe that haven’t been able to do that, and we don’t want that to be the case here in the Gladstone region.
We definitely want to make sure that, come 2050 or 2060, we’re still the industrial capital of Australia. To do that, we’ve got to change the way we do things.
And we need genuine leadership from our governments and our leaders.
There’s no more polarising time to be talking about clean energy and zero emissions than a Federal election.
But people want to have confidence that their governments and leaders are planning for this transition and for the changes, so they can be confident there will be jobs for themselves and for their children.
At the moment, I think we see a very piece-meal approach. We need more certainty and more guidance, to ensure we get the right investment in the right place at the right time and make sure that we’re successful here in our region.
