News

19 May 2009

The EU and Australia join forces in the fight against climate change ahead of the Conference of Copenhagen

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs met today with top ranking authorities of the Australian Government to push forward joint initiatives on climate change, clean energy, and security of supply. "The UN climate conference on climate change to be held in Copenhagen in December will be essential to reach a global agreement to save the planet. Australia and the EU share the same concerns about climate change and aim at similar solutions. I believe we need to join forces in Copenhagen to be successful in this endeavour", said Commissioner Piebalgs after meeting with the Australian authorities.

In his first visit to Australia, Commissioner Piebalgs met with the Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism, Martin Ferguson; the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, and the Minister for Trade, Simon Crean.

One of the concrete results of the visit of Commissioner Piebalgs was the signature today in Melbourne of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing the European Union as a founding partner of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Institute. Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, and Martin Ferguson, Australian Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism signed the MoU representing the European Commission and the Australian Government.

The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute is an initiative of the Australian Government to accelerate the deployment of CCS technology globally and the sharing of information. Currently it has the support of 85 bodies including 16 national governments and 40 major companies.

Australia is a global energy actor and a key energy partner to the EU. It is the world 4th largest coal producer with a production of 323 M tonnes of hard coal and 72 M tonnes of lignite. Since 1984 Australia has been the world's largest exporter of coal, and the third largest hard coal exporter to the EU. Australia is also an important producer of LNG, with more than 44 billion cubic meters (bcm) exports in 2008/2009. Australia holds one third of the world uranium resources at competitive prices. In 2007 the EU exported to Australia energy products with a value of 28 million euro.

For more information about Commissioner Piebalgs, please consult his website http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/piebalgs/index_en.htm

May 21, 2009