WA to miss net zero targets by up to a decade: Woodside report

West Australian-headquartered oil and gas giant Woodside claims its controversial multimillion-dollar Browse project will not derail the state’s net zero targets because it is already on track to miss the 2050 deadline.

A Deloitte Access Economics report has suggested that even if the $48.7 billion project does not go ahead, WA will miss its target by up to a decade and that the offshore proposal could alleviate costs of the energy transition by fuelling industry in the meantime.

That interpretation of the report has been slammed by the state’s peak environmental body, which labelled it as “corporate propaganda” to hide the fact the proposal would be a “drain on our economy and a disaster for our environment”.

But Woodside Chief Executive Officer Liz Westcott said it highlighted the role Browse could play in supporting Australia’s long-term energy needs while delivering a fair return for the community.

“Browse is Australia’s biggest undeveloped offshore gas resource and represents a major opportunity for the nation at a time when energy security matters more than ever,” she said.

“Independent modelling shows Browse has the potential to power homes and businesses, support thousands of Australian jobs and generate significant revenue for governments while also helping to manage the risks and costs of the energy transition.”

Woodside also highlighted that the report estimated the Browse project could contribute a long-term uplift of more than $141 billion in gross domestic product nationally.

Conservation Council WA senior campaigner Greta Carroll said Woodside had commissioned a report that showed WA was falling behind when it came to climate action – and had taken all the wrong lessons from it.

“Instead of prioritising the renewable transition, the company is doubling down on fossil gas that is expensive, unreliable and polluting, disastrous for both the economy and environment,” she said.

“WA needs concrete emissions reduction targets and to prioritise renewables over new gas projects like Browse.

“That’s the best way to build a thriving economy and protect places we love like Scott Reef.”

WA Greens fossil fuels spokeswoman Sophie McNeill said the Deloitte report had brought to light information on net zero that the state government had been unwilling to release.

“The Cook Labor Government has been hiding it, saying our emissions trajectory is top secret, it’s cabinet-in-confidence and yet here, Woodside has accidentally revealed it,” she said.

“It’s pretty funny.”

Carroll said the report was also an attempt to undermine the federal government’s plans for a domestic gas reservation policy that “actually delivers, unlike the WA scheme that has been undermined in favour of big gas exporters”.

“We know gas export giants don’t comply with WA’s reservation policy. In 2023, only 8 per cent of WA gas was reserved for domestic use,” she said.

“If Woodside was really serious about helping the WA economy, the first thing they’d do is start delivering what they owe to the domestic market.

“The second thing would be to cancel the Browse gas project, which risks increasing WA’s domestic gas prices and give them a licence to export more Australian gas royalty-free.”

Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Aaron Morey said the Browse project was delivering for the WA economy, by generating more than $56 billion in taxes and royalties, creating nearly 4800 jobs and supporting decades of cheaper and reliable energy.

“Browse ticks every box for our state. It would deliver thousands of well-paying jobs, tens of billions in taxes and royalties, decades of cheaper and reliable energy and support the decarbonisation of electricity grids both here in WA and across Asia,” he said.

“Resources projects of this size and significance don’t come around often and the jurisdictions that secure them reap the benefits for generations.”

Morey said the unfolding conflict in the Middle East had driven home the importance of energy security.

“Reliable and affordable energy is the most basic building block of advanced economies, and it is only becoming more important over time,” he said.

“The energy unlocked through Browse would make us indispensable to our trading partners.”

Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said she had not seen the report, but it did nothing to change the government’s focus on transitioning to a “renewable energy powerhouse”.

“By 2030 we would have exited state-owned coal powered stations in the [South West Interconnected System] and we’re getting on with the energy transition across the Pilbara,” she said.

“This is one of the hardest places in the globe to decarbonise. We have heavy industry that supports communities and supports jobs.

“We’re working to deliver $3 billion worth of future generational transmission infrastructure … That is our focus. That is my focus, and this report doesn’t change that.”

She said net zero by 2050 was a “rock solid commitment from the government”.