Media Release:

FROM THE MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

DATE: Wednesday, June 18, 2008

VICTORIA SIGNS HISTORIC AGREEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE, RESEARCH AND ENERGY WITH MANITOBA

Clean coal research will be one of the key focuses of a new agreement between Victorian and Canadian scientists to work together on clean energy technologies to spearhead crucial work to address climate change, Minister for Innovation, Gavin Jennings announced today.

Mr Jennings today signed a new three-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Canadian Province of Manitoba on behalf of Premier John Brumby, reinforcing Victoria’s position as a leader in climate change research and technology.

“Victoria is leading the way in addressing climate change and developing clean energy in Australia – and Manitoba is doing the same in Canada,” Mr Jennings said.

“It makes sense that our two jurisdictions share the latest research in new energy technologies, such as clean coal, as one of the key practical measures to address global climate change.”

Mr Jennings said Victoria and Manitoba shared significant brown coal reserves, similar environmental and agricultural condition and a strong innovation focus.

The MoU encourages the establishment of commercial joint ventures, licensing agreements, collaborative research projects and joint economic development missions.

“Clean coal technology is central to Victoria’s strategy to address the effects of climate change,” Mr Jennings said.

“This MoU reinforces our Government’s efforts to position Victoria as a global leader in carbon capture technology, to ensure we are equipped to capitalise on new and emerging markets.”

Mr Jennings said the new MoU – signed on behalf of Premier John Brumby at BIO 2008 in San Diego – built on the Victorian Government’s investment in clean coal.

On April 30 this year, the Brumby Government announced a $127.4 million package to create new jobs in the Latrobe Valley and position Victoria’s coal industry as one of the cleanest in the world, including:
· A $110 million fund to establish new large-scale, pre-commercial Carbon Capture Storage demonstration projects;
· $12.2 million to create Clean Coal Victoria in the Latrobe Valley, an organisation dedicated to maximising the value of Victoria’s brown coal resources; and
· $5.2 million to investigate carbon storage sites in the Gippsland basin to better understand carbon storage potential through research and modelling of the region’s geology.

The new Victoria-Manitoba MoU builds on an existing MoU between the two jurisdictions in 2006, which focused on life sciences.

“Our new MoU has been expanded to include science and technology more broadly – and builds on alliances between the two jurisdictions’ research institutions and businesses to work together,” Mr Jennings said.