Distinguished colleagues, friends from Japan and Australia – thank you for this opportunity to speak about a partnership that is already cutting emissions while keeping our energy systems reliable and affordable.

Australia and Japan share so much.

Our economies are inextricably linked.

Japanese investment helped build Australia’s resources sector and we are very proud to provide the energy and minerals that have helped build and power Japan’s cities.

Each day our nations become closer.

Economically and strategically.

I was thrilled when Australia selected Japan’s Mogami-class frigate to replace our Anzac class vessels.

Many of these will be built just up the road from my electorate in Henderson and will be stationed across the road from my home at HMAS Stirling in Rockingham.  

And of course, Australia and Japan share the same goal on climate: Net Zero by 2050.

The Australian Government is acting on climate change.

It is the right thing to do for our kids and environment, and the smart thing to do for our economy.

Last week, the Australian Government released its Net Zero Plan, along with its commitment to set a new 2035 target cutting emissions by 62-70 per cent, compared to 2005 levels.

Working together, the world can reduce emissions.

But achieving that goal will require every tool at our disposal.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is part of the solution.

Respected organisations such as the Australian Climate Change Authority and the International Energy Agency recognise that CCS has an essential role to play in meeting Net Zero.

Australia and Japan are building the rules, the projects, and the supply chains to make it work at scale.

Because we know that we need gas for the energy transition.

But in order to use gas, we need CCS.

Last year the Australian Government released its Future Gas Strategy.

The Strategy was clear: natural gas will keep backing up renewables and powering hard-to-abate industries for some years yet.

The task before us is to drive down the emissions associated with it.

One of the key actions in the Future Gas Strategy was to promote the geological storage of CO2 to support our region’s transition to Net Zero.

Last year, I granted 10 new greenhouse gas storage assessment permits as part of the Offshore Greenhouse Gas Storage Acreage Release.

The Australian Government is currently reviewing the regulatory frameworks for offshore CCS.

The Review will make recommendations to ensure we have a system that works – and it does.

Our approach is to continue to ensure the right policy and regulatory settings are in place for industry to make investment decisions on their projects.

This is important – because Australia has huge potential for CCS.

We have the right geological formations, the right infrastructure, and the right skills to be at the forefront of CCS and to help our regional partners in their own decarbonisation journeys.

On the ground – and under the ground – the momentum is real.

18 commercial-scale CCS ventures are currently either in operation, proposed, or undergoing trial stages.

Australia hosts one of the largest CCS projects in the world – Chevron’s Gorgon Project.

And despite some challenges, the project has stored more than 11 million tonnes of CO2 since 2019.

Let me be very clear – that is 11 million tonnes that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere.

Santos’s Moomba CCS project has stored 1 million tonnes of CO2 since it commenced operations last year.

The Bonaparte CCS Project near Darwin was awarded Major Project Status in July, recognition of its significance and potential to serve industrial emitters across the Indo Pacific.

I am excited about this project and eagerly anticipating its progress and completion.

Our hard-won lessons are informing better designs and pressure management across new projects.

I know that Japan is also making rapid progress in CCS.

Last May, the CCS Business Act established Japan’s first comprehensive permitting system for storage operations, giving investors clarity on licences and liability.

Japan’s Long Term CCS Roadmap targets 120-240 million tonnes of CO2 storage by 2050, with a “storage first” approach that prioritises developing safe reservoirs and cross border supply chains.

Domestic projects are also growing in capacity and ambition:

In 2023, the Japanese Government announced the selection of its first seven CCS projects – with the aim of storing 13 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030.

Crucially, Japanese and Australian firms are also collaborating and sharing knowledge to create real value chains.

INPEX and Chubu Electric Power are jointly studying a Nagoya to Australia CCS value chain that would capture CO₂ around the Port of Nagoya and ship it to the Bonaparte Basin.

Woodside Energy has signed an MOU with Sumitomo Corporation, Toho Gas and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha assessing a similar Japan-Australia CCS corridor for the Chūbu region.

And one of those 10 storage assessment permits I granted last year went to J POWER, which is working with Australian companies deepC Store and Azuli International to progress floating storage and injection concepts that could aggregate CO₂ volumes from Japan.

That is bilateral cooperation in action.

Our collaboration on CCS is part of a much larger economic and security partnership.

Our countries maintain a Special Strategic Partnership, which forms the foundation of our shared values and mutual trust.

Economically, the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement has underpinned two-way trade and investment since it came into effect in 2015.

We also have a formal Australia-Japan Critical Minerals Partnership, which established a framework for building secure critical minerals supply chains.

Critical minerals and rare earths are critical to decarbonisation.

Without ready supplies of processed critical minerals, we cannot build the technology we need get to Net Zero.

It’s that simple.

As we all know, CCS has its critics.

But the most respected authorities in the world are very clear.

Reaching Net Zero will be virtually impossible without it.

We must do everything in our power to ensure the technology becomes as effective as possible.

We support an accelerated clean energy transformation that continues to ensure secure, affordable, and reliable energy supply for our regional partners which cannot service their domestic energy needs without importing fuels.

Australia is committed to working with our international partners to transition away from fossil fuels in line with their national circumstances and economic priorities.  

And Japan is a valued and reliable international partner.

Together we need to work to earn public confidence in the science.

We must connect emitters to reservoirs through efficient shipping and pipeline infrastructure and by harmonising standards, especially for transboundary CO₂ movements.

We must create business environments that promote investment.

And we must share information and lessons, so that every next project is cheaper, cleaner and faster than the last.

Australia and Japan have built world class LNG supply chains together.

Now, together, we can decarbonise them, while maintaining energy security and creating highly skill jobs. We can cut millions of tonnes of emissions in our two countries and across the entire Indo-Pacific.

We owe it to each other, and to our people.

Thank you very much.