Future Fuels Forum commences

The transport sector is the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in Australia, and the Energy Transformed National Research Flagship and its collaborators are focusing on finding solutions to this crucial issue through the new Future Fuels Forum.

The initiative will articulate the main challenges for our nation in arriving at a secure and sustainable transport fuel mix for the road, rail, air and sea sectors to 2050 by drawing on the expertise of forum participants and utilising sophisticated techno-economic modelling tools.

Scenarios will explore, for example, international oil supply, likely policy changes such as emission trading, future fuels and technologies and how quickly they can be deployed.

The Future Fuels Forum is designed to provide input to decision makers in industry and government on strategic policy and future investment.  This will be articulated through the release of a comprehensive report in June 2008.

This project follows the successful Energy Futures Forum (EFF), a collaboration with energy industry stakeholders which ran from 2004 to 2006 and developed scenarios for the future of energy in Australia.

At its conclusion the EFF issued a much referenced report, The Heat Is On, and recently won the CSIRO Strategic Excellence Partnership Award.

An impressive list of participants has gathered, bringing a wealth of experience and many different perspectives that relate to the fuel and transport sectors.

Future Fuels Forum participants are:

• Australian Automobile Association

• Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas

• Biofuels Association of Australia

• Caltex

• Engineers Australia

• Future Climate Australia

• National Roads and Motorists Association

• National Transport Commission

• Public Interest Advocacy Centre

• Queensland Rail

• Rocky Point Distillery

• Sasol Chevron

• The South Australian Government

• The Victorian Government

• Woolworths

The Forum’s work has already begun to ensure the transport sector can continue delivering its many benefits and at the same time reduce its environmental impact, an outcome that supports the Flagship’s goal of significant greenhouse gas reduction from the energy and transport sectors.

The Forum is still accepting expressions of interest to join the initiative. To register interest please contact Mr Paul Graham, Energy Futures Research Leader at futurefuels@csiro.au or + 61 2 4960 6061.