Cash for cutting the gas: PM’s new $1 billion tech fund

Queensland start-ups wanting to lower emissions with new tech, from carbon capture to reducing methane from cows, will be able to access a $1 billion fund. But there is a political trap set to be sprung in the fine print.

Aussie companies will be able to access up to $1 billion to research and develop carbon capture and storage, feed that reduces methane emissions from livestock, smaller, better renewable energy batteries and other low emissions technology, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will announce.

But in a move that will set up a fight with Labor, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will also be altered to allow it to invest in carbon capture and storage technology.

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison was forced to defend his 2019 claim that electric vehicles would “end the weekend” after he announced plans to rollout more EV charging stations.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison gives the thumbs up from a hydrogen-powered car. Picture: William West/AFP

Under the Low Emissions Technology Commercialisation Fund to be announced on Wednesday, the Federal Government will give an $500 million to the CEFC which will in turn seek to raise an additional $500 million from the private sector.

The new fund will then make venture capital investments in Australian start-ups and businesses that are seeking to develop or scale up new low-emissions technology.

It will include technology like green steel, carbon capture and storage, livestock feed technologies with the potential to reduce methane emissions from cattle, more efficient solar panels and smaller batteries.

Mr Morrison said the fund would address a gap in the Australian market where small, complex, technology-focused start-ups where finding it difficult to secure finance through banks or other means.

“Australia can become a world leader in creating low emissions technology that is both affordable and scalable, helping get emissions down while creating jobs,” Mr Morrison said.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister defended his backflip to now support electric vehicles.

Saying the technology has “come a long way”, Mr Morrison said he did not oppose electric vehicles, only “(former opposition leader) Bill Shorten’s mandate” on them.

Mr Shorten took a policy of a target, but not a mandate, of 50 per cent new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030.

Tech-companies seeking to cut methane emissions from cows passing wind are among those that can access cash from the low-emissions fund. Picture: Shaun Ryan

Federal Labor frontbencher Mark Butler, who was in charge of climate and energy policy for the party at the 2019 election, questioned how voters could trust Mr Morrison on the topic after the “ridiculous assertion” that electric cars would “end the weekend”.

“I’m more interested though in the verdicts of the experts in this area, the Automobile Association representing drivers across Australia has described this policy as a missed opportunity,” he said.

“The industry itself that is at the forefront of this revolution across the globe has described a policy that was two years in the making but delivered such little actual substance as an absolute ‘fizzer’.”