Low carbon fuel key to decarbonisation in the short term: ACA

As the world moves towards a collective carbon net zero goal, the state of Australia’s construction industry poses a significant challenge for the industry and the country to achieve carbon zero in the foreseeable future, said the Australian Constructor’s Association (ACA).

According to a Deloitte report, the construction sector consumed 3250 mega-litres of mineral diesel in 2019-20, representing nearly eight megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

While electrification is the preferred way to achieve that goal, technology constraints mean that will not be feasible in the short to medium term.

In a newly released report, ACA said the adoption of low carbon liquid fuel in the meantime is crucial to help Australia move towards net zero.

“We need to rapidly adopt low carbon liquid fuels to bridge the gap until electric options mature and the best transition fuel for the construction industry is renewable diesel,” said ACA CEO, Jon Davies.

“ACA is calling for direct government policy intervention to rapidly accelerate both the supply and demand for renewable diesel in Australia.

“Renewable diesel enables necessary emission reductions in the short term without modifications to existing machinery.”

However, the current problem is the lack of domestic renewable diesel production, ACA added.

“This reflects a policy vacuum that lags other countries significantly,” Davies said.

“Importing renewable diesel is cost prohibitive relative to mineral diesel, making adoption a competitive disadvantage.”

ACA’s report reveals a domestic renewable diesel industry would have a range of additional benefits beyond construction decarbonisation, including lower air pollutants and better air quality, energy security, local employment and economic growth from both feedstock and refining.

The organisation calls on the Australian Government to lead the development of a low carbon liquid fuel policy that could take the form of a National Renewable Diesel Roadmap that charts a course for a sustainable domestic renewable diesel industry.

“Put simply, a strategy of waiting for electrification to reach maturity is incompatible with Australia’s net zero commitments. We must pursue alternatives in the interim,” ACA said.

“ACA advocates for a tiered approach to decarbonising construction that embraces the long term ambition of electrification while pragmatically adopting other low carbon liquid fuels in the interim.”

See ACA's Renewable Diesel position paper on ACA's website.