CSIRO is working on reducing footprint of coal-fired power stations 30% to 50%, environment minister says, but IPCC report urges switch to cleaner power sources

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Environment minister Greg Hunt says Australia does not have to give up its coal habit completely despite dire warnings from UN climate change experts.

In its landmark review, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said emissions of three key greenhouse gases were at a more than 800,000-year high.

It said the Earth was on course for at least 4C warming by 2100 compared with pre-industrial times – a recipe for worsening drought, flood, rising seas and species extinction.

The report said switching to cleaner power sources, increasing energy efficiency and using other methods to reduce emissions would be much cheaper than the cost of climate damage.

But Hunt said the federal government’s Direct Action plan would help clean up coal energy use.

“The work the CSIRO is doing is looking at a 30% to potentially 50% reduction in the footprint of coal-fired power stations,” he told ABC Radio.

The Climate Council said burning fossil fuels was incompatible with tackling climate change.

“It would be ill-advised to prioritise one industry at the expense of our collective health, economy and way of life,” the chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said on Monday.

Direct Action, which parliament passed on Friday with the support of the Palmer United party and crossbench senators, provides financial incentives for big polluters to volunteer to reduce emissions.

The first projects to win money from the $2.55bn funding pool through a reverse auction will be known in the first quarter of 2015.

Greens leader Christine Milne said fossil fuel reserves must be left in the ground or there was no chance of preventing catastrophic warming.

“The game is up – prime minister Abbott can no longer engage in high-risk denying behaviour, plead ignorance or continue to shirk this,” she said.