Current Geoscience Australia projects

Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity initiative

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a priority under Resourcing Australia's Prosperity. One of our key deliverables in the Resourcing Australia's Prosperity 10-year roadmap is the National Carbon Dioxide Storage Resource Atlas. The Atlas will provide assessments of onshore and offshore opportunities for the underground storage of CO₂ across Australia. This is underpinned by building a fundamental understanding and analysis of Australia’s prospective basins for geological storage.

Geoscience Australia is also focussing on adding value to existing data holdings (such as rock core and geophysical data) that may have been gathered for other purposes such as hydrocarbon exploration. This valuable subsurface data and information is highly applicable to the geological storage sector, including industry and the research community. Outputs from this project will support the development of decarbonisation pathways and technologies for a wide range of stakeholders, including government decision-makers, the CCS industry and emitters.

Technical advice to government

We provide technical advice to government, particularly through the Department of Industry, Science and Resources and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water on issues related to geological storage, carbon management technologies and low carbon energy technologies. We have assisted with the development of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006, CO₂ storage regulations, and release of offshore acreage for CO₂ storage. We often act as the Government’s technical representatives and advisers at domestic and international fora including the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme.