Australia's liquefied natural gas industry has asked the government to establish a new category to permit exporters to be compensated during the early stages of the country's proposed carbon trading regime.
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association has requested special treatment under a new Clean Global Contributors category in the emissions trading regime.
The association has said that as liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a low-emission fuel and helps in the move toward less polluting fuels, the industry deserves compensation and should not be punished for emissions produced during the export preparation stage.
Australian LNG exporters including Woodside Petroleum and Chevron have been lobbying the government to consider them in a group set to receive compensatory permits in the initial stages of the emission trading scheme implementation.