Carbon neutrality of the Australian economy, which the country’s Government intends to achieve by 2050, is possible only after the establishment of appropriate financial incentives to decarbonize the industry, writes the local newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald, citing a number of experts.
In early February, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “Our goal is to achieve zero CO2 emissions as soon as possible, preferably by 2050.” At the same time, he added that the speed of the “green” transition will depend on science and technologies enabling the reduction of costs for obtaining “clean” energy from hydrogen, and not on the rate of the carbon tax.
At the same time, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian experts believe that this is a wrong approach.
Technologies alone will not be enough for decarbonization. We need financial incentives. It is impossible to imagine that we will be able to achieve zero emissions without a market mechanism, stimulating investments into emissions’ curtailment
Stephen Hamilton, senior economist at the Blueprint Institute
Anna Skarbek, Executive Director of the ClimateWorks advisory center at Monash University, believes the Government should support the industry by providing financial incentives to implement decarbonization measures. As an example, she cited public procurement for new infrastructure, which may involve the use of green steel or cement.
Let us remind
Let us remind that the South Korean Government has established a Committee for the Green Metallurgy Development, China is preparing a program for the transition to green metallurgy with financial incentives, and British metallurgists have called on the British authorities to develop a package of measures to stimulate iron and steel enterprises to switch to carbon-free production technologies – electrometallurgy and hydrogen.
In the European Union, the investment plan for the “green transition” of the European industry amounts to 1 trillion euros during 2021-2030 in the form of concessional loans and subsidies. Moreover, the European Commission is going to allocate about 300 billion euros from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (the fund to combat the economic consequences of the impact of Coronavirus) specifically on the eco-modernization of industrial enterprises.
Decarbonization in Ukraine
In Ukraine, the only incentive for decarbonization of the steelmaking industry is the green metallurgy rule, according to which enterprises that have cut their CO2 emissions down to the European target level will be able to apply for a small reduction in the electricity tariff.
However, such rule exists in theory only. Six months after the adoption of the relevant law, the incentive did not get rolling due to the inability of the Cabinet of Ministers to develop the necessary legislative instruments.