SYDNEY/PERTH, Thursday 9 January 2025 — In response to Woodside’s referral of its Browse CCS proposal to the federal government for assessment, the following comments can be attributed to Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific:

“Carbon capture and storage is an expensive distraction that fossil fuel corporations use to greenwash their emissions, so we’re not surprised that Woodside is yet again trying to shirk its climate responsibilities.

“Woodside’s carbon dumping plans for Browse involve injecting the carbon pollution from its offshore gas production into a reservoir underneath the ocean — both environmentally reckless and doomed to fail. It also involves running seismic surveys periodically for over thirty years, which can deafen whales, as well as harm marine life and threatened species.

“Woodside has already tried unsuccessfully to push through carbon dumping plans for Browse and was provisionally knocked back by the federal environment department, who highlighted the risks of the new technology to our oceans and protected animals, as well as the risk of the injection site failing.

“Ultimately, if we are serious about tackling climate pollution and reducing emissions this decade, we must stop emissions before they are produced — CCS is a failed experiment and has not been proven to work at the scale required to tackle the climate crisis anywhere in the world.

“Communities across Australia and the Pacific are experiencing the worsening impacts of the climate crisis. We must invest in the proven climate solutions we have right now — that is renewable wind and solar energy backed by storage.

“Carbon dumping is not the answer to the climate crisis — it is a license for the profit-hungry fossil fuel industry to keep polluting and will simply prolong the use of fossil fuels in our energy systems. It must be called out for the scam that it is.”

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For more information or interviews contact Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org

Woodside’s Browse carbon dumping plans an expensive distraction from real climate action