A leading executive with global miner Rio Tinto has dismissed climate change as “ideological discussion” and also called for increased efforts to make carbon capture and storage (CCS) a viable technology.
According to Rio Tinto’s head of energy, Harry Kenyon-Slaney “idealistic discussions” about climate change should be abandoned and Australians should recognise that coal will remain an important energy source for decades.
The top mining executive speaking at a conference in the New South Wales state capital, Sydney, said that society needs to focus on technology to make power stations more efficient.
Fairfax Media reports he also called for efforts to advance carbon capture and storage, because coal will continue to “do the lion’s share of heavy lifting” to meet energy demand.
“It is clear we can’t just wish away fossil fuels,” he told the Energy Policy Institute of Australia.
Fairfax Media reports his comments come amid continued campaigning against coal and coal seam gas on the east coast, involving blockades of rail paths and drilling rigs.
Rio Tinto yesterday renewed its application for government approval for an expansion of a coalmine in NSW’s Hunter Valley, some four years after kicking off the process.
Mr Kenyon-Slaney replaced Doug Ritchie 18 months ago as chief executive of Rio Tinto Energy, which runs the company’s coal and uranium assets.
He said Australia had let its competitive advantage in energy slip away and was “facing a make-or-break moment” to set good policy in an upcoming government energy strategy paper.
Mr Kenyon-Slaney is backing modifications to the Renewable Energy Target (RET), which industry says is pushing up electricity costs.
He also wants more government support for CCS technology, in which Rio has so far invested more than $US100 million.
Meanwhile, former Labor federal resources minister Martin Ferguson has stepped up criticism of the conservative Liberal-National government’s emissions-reductions policies and called for the watering down of the RET, which he said was undermining the national electricity market.
“The RET is distorting the proper price signals that the NEM relies upon to attract efficient investment and to supply energy at the lowest cost,” Mr Ferguson, who is now an adviser at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, told the conference.
Mr Ferguson’s stance is a turnaround from his previous support for the 2020 RET while a minister in the Labor government.
He says his modified views are justified by the changes that have taken place in the energy sector, including the downturn in electricity demand.
