In this open letter to Viva Energy’s unnamed spokesperson, 94.7 The Pulse radio host Mik Aidt challenges the claim that a new gas terminal in northern Geelong is “good news” for our community.
Dear unnamed Viva Energy spokesperson,
I’m thinking of you – the person who recently told the Geelong Independent that:
“A gas terminal would be good news for Geelong. A reliable and affordable supply of gas is critical for industry and manufacturing, supporting employment and economic growth.”
I would genuinely welcome the opportunity to hear your thoughts in more detail, and to share a few of mine. Maybe I could invite you for a cup of coffee at a local café where we could talk this through? In which case we could also discuss why your organisation on several occasions has declined doing a radio/podcast interview with us about these matters.
Here are some of the perspectives I’d be very interested in your response to:
Reliable?
You describe gas as “reliable,” but is it really? Gas supply depends on finite wells that eventually run dry. It’s a fuel that leaks, emits toxins, and carries risks of explosion. None of that says ‘reliability’. And how often does Viva publicly report shutdowns, delays, or infrastructure issues?
Affordable?
Gas is currently the most expensive form of energy in Australia’s energy mix. It’s a key driver of high electricity prices – as we heard energy retailer Colin Long explain to us in The Sustainable Hour recently. It is a well established fact that households are financially better off by switching from gas to electric. As gas supplies dwindle, prices will double (IEA 2023). Victoria’s gas heating costs rose 15 per cent in 2023. (See links below). So who exactly is it ‘affordable’ for? Local Geelong families, or international fossil fuel shareholders?
Supporting employment?
The gas industry is shrinking globally. As renewables rise, fossil fuel jobs are disappearing. Where is your transition plan for Viva Energy’s gas workers when this terminal becomes a stranded asset? Why not invest in sectors with real long-term job growth, like electrification, energy efficiency, or battery storage?
Economic growth = community wellbeing?
Framing this project around “economic growth” feels deeply out of touch. Growth at what cost? The climate emergency is already affecting Geelong and the Surf Coast through heatwaves, flash flooding, rising insurance premiums, mental health, bushfires. Shouldn’t our energy strategy focus on stability, health, and resilience – not locking in decades of new emissions?
No name, no accountability – why?
You declined to put your name to the statement. That silence speaks volumes. If this project is genuinely in the public interest, why the anonymity? Surely transparency is a minimum standard for companies wanting social licence in our community?
I don’t doubt that you care about your role and your organisation. But please understand – many of us in Geelong do not see this gas terminal as “good news.” We see it as a costly, polluting, backward-looking distraction from the urgent task of building a clean and sustainable future for all of us.
I’d be happy to meet and speak respectfully, openly, and honestly about these things. I believe in conversation – not confrontation. If you’re open to that, just say the word. You have my email address below, and the comments field further down on this page is open.
Even better, join us in The Sustainable Hour’s virtual radio studio for an open talk in public about these important matters, with a genuine aim not only to get to understand each other better, but also to involve our podcast’s listeners in this discussion about Geelong’s energy future.
Kind regards,
Mik Aidt
Director, Centre for Climate Safety
Email: mikaidt@climatesafety.info
Facts, figures and projections on gas
The case for electrification is stronger than ever. New research reveals Australians are ready to spend an incredible $82 billion on home energy upgrades like insulation, draught-proofing, heat pumps and solar, and RenewEconomy reported recently that at current rates, gas heating could effectively disappear from homes by 2032:
→ RenewEconomy – 2 June 2025:
Decommissioning rates show gas heating could be gone by 2032, but oil exec bonuses might suffer
“Unlike a number of manufacturing businesses, most households can readily substitute gas appliances with electric alternatives. Not only that, because electric heat-pump air and water heaters are vastly more energy-efficient than the gas alternatives, households would be financially better off switching to electric once their existing gas appliance is close to its end of life.”
→ RealEstate – 14 May 2025:
$82 billion opportunity: Why Aussies aren’t doing more to slash this big household expense
“Making homes more energy efficient has major financial benefits for households but one big barrier is holding people back, a new report has found. About 65% of households plan to make energy-efficient improvements to their homes in the next five years, expecting to spend an average of $7,950 on energy efficiency improvements, representing an $82 billion opportunity, the report found.”
The death spiral for gas companies is on: the less gas is used, the more gas companies charge those customers still left, thus making more customers abandon gas, and so it goes on for unloved old technology.
Already around the corner: climate legislation
Facts, figures and projections on renewables
Renewables are now the cheapest source of new electricity
For the seventh consecutive year, Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, has confirmed that solar and wind are the cheapest source for new electricity generation in Australia. Their latest GenCost 2024-25 report shows that even when including the costs of storage and transmission to ensure reliability, the levelised cost of renewables is significantly lower than that of gas-fired power.
- By the numbers: The estimated cost for a new gas generator ranges from $65 to $111 per megawatt-hour (MWh). In contrast, large-scale solar PV is as low as $44-$65 per MWh, and continues to fall. The report also notes that the cost estimates for new gas plants have increased to reflect the extra expense of making them ‘hydrogen-ready’.
Renewables and batteries are directly out-competing gas for grid services
The cost of big batteries dropped 20 per cent last year alone, while gas got more expensive. And with the new federal battery rebate starting 1 July 2025, this crucial tech is within reach for more people than ever before.
Australia’s battery boom is gaining traction, with one in two Australians seeking to install a household battery alongside a new or existing rooftop solar system, which will double their savings.
Gas power plants have traditionally been used for “peaking” – providing rapid power to the grid during periods of high demand. However, large-scale batteries are now proving to be faster, cheaper, and more efficient at providing this service, directly undermining a key economic rationale for gas.
- An example: In the United States, heat pumps are now decisively outselling natural gas furnaces for home heating. In 2024, heat pumps outsold gas furnaces by 30 per cent, the largest gap ever recorded, demonstrating a clear consumer and market shift away from gas at the residential level. This trend of electrification reduces long-term gas demand.
No matter whether Australians keep loving their gas appliances or not, according to the International Energy Agency, fossil fuel scarcity is projected to reduce Australia’s $50 billion LNG economy by 30 per cent by 2040. Scarcity will increase petrochemical costs. Deloitte has expects prices to rise 50 per cent by 2050, in which case all global goods reliant on fossil-based inputs will become more expensive as well.
There is plenty of evidence-based good news in the global renewable energy sector at the moment, with several major milestones being reached. Here are some of the positive developments:
Global momentum
- Renewables to overtake coal: According to the International Energy Agency, 2025 is the year renewables are set to surpass coal as the world’s largest source of electricity. This marks a historic turning point in the global energy transition.
- Clean power surpassed 40 per cent of global electricity in 2024: Driven by a massive surge in solar and wind power, clean energy sources – renewables and nuclear – accounted for over 40 per cent of the world’s electricity for the first time last year, according to energy think tank Ember. Renewable generation alone saw record growth.
- Investment in clean energy is now double fossil fuels: Global investment in clean energy technologies is on track to hit a record USD $2.2 trillion in 2025, twice the amount being invested in fossil fuels. The IEA reports that solar power alone is attracting more capital than any other single energy technology.
- Record-breaking growth in renewables: 2024 saw the largest-ever annual increase in new renewable energy capacity, with the world adding a record 585 GW, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA. Solar and wind power accounted for 96.6 per cent of this growth.
China green transition
Recent data from early 2025 reveals a remarkable acceleration in China’s energy transition, with global implications:
- China’s CO₂ emissions are falling due to renewables: For the first time, the explosive growth in China’s clean power generation has caused the nation’s CO₂ emissions to fall, despite rapid growth in electricity demand. Analysis from Carbon Brief shows emissions fell 1.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 because new renewable energy met more than 100 per cent of the new demand for electricity, actively displacing fossil fuels.
- Wind and solar capacity overtakes coal: As of February 2025, China’s total installed capacity of wind and solar power surpassed its thermal power – predominantly coal – capacity for the first time.
- Record clean energy generation: In the first quarter of 2025, China produced a record 951 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity from clean sources – wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear – a 19 per cent increase from the same period in 2024. Solar generation alone was up an astonishing 48 per cent.
These developments indicate that the momentum behind the renewable energy transition is not only sustained but accelerating, with key global milestones being achieved sooner than many had predicted.
More here:
Facts, figures and projections on climate
In Australia
- Accelerated warming: Australia’s climate has warmed by an average of 1.51°C since national records began in 1910, with the majority of this warming occurring since 1950. The past decade has been the warmest on record.
- Intensified heat extremes: The number of days with extremely high temperatures has sharply increased. In 2019, there were 33 days where the national average maximum temperature exceeded 39°C, a number greater than the combined total from 1960 to 2018.
- Shifting rainfall patterns: Southern Australia is experiencing significant drying. Since 1970, cool season (April to October) rainfall has decreased by around 16% in the southwest and by about 9 per cent in the southeast since 1994. Conversely, northern Australia’s wet season (October to April) rainfall has increased by approximately 20 per cent since 1994.
- Diminishing water resources: Streamflow has seen a significant decrease in over 28 per cent of monitoring stations across Australia since 1970, with the most pronounced reductions in the south. This trend is impacting water availability for agriculture, industry, and urban centres.
- Escalating fire danger: There has been a significant increase in extreme fire weather and a lengthening of the fire season across large parts of Australia since the 1950s.
- Warming and acidifying oceans: The oceans surrounding Australia have warmed by an average of 1.08°C since 1900. This warming is contributing to more frequent and severe marine heatwaves, such as those affecting the Great Barrier Reef, Tasmania and the South Australian coast line. The oceans are also becoming more acidic, threatening marine ecosystems.
- Rising sea levels: Sea levels around Australia are rising in line with the global trend, increasing the risk of coastal inundation and erosion, particularly during extreme high-tide events. Some houses in Indented Head on the Bellarine Peninsula can no longer be insured and are becoming unsellable due to projected sea level rise.
Globally
- Unprecedented global temperatures: The last ten years (2015-2024) were the warmest decade ever recorded. 2024 was the warmest year in the 175-year observational record, with the global mean temperature reaching approximately 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels.
- Exposure to heatwaves: Under a 1.5°C pathway, 52 per cent of people born in 2020 will experience unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves. If global warming reaches 3.5°C by 2100, this fraction rises to 92 per cent for heatwaves, 29 per cent for crop failures and 14 per cent for river floods.
- Record ocean heat: For the eighth consecutive year, ocean heat content reached a record high in 2024. The rate of ocean warming over the past two decades is more than double that of the period between 1960 and 2005.
- Rapid ice melt:
- Glaciers: The three-year period from 2021 to 2023 saw the largest loss of glacier mass on record.
- Polar ice sheets: The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass at an accelerated rate. Between 1993 and 2019, Greenland lost an average of 279 billion tonnes of ice per year, while Antarctica lost about 148 billion tonnes annually.
- Accelerating sea level rise: The rate of global mean sea-level rise has more than doubled since the beginning of a satellite tracking in 1993.
- Dramatic changes at the poles:
- Arctic: The 18 lowest Arctic sea-ice extents have all occurred in the last 18 years.
- Antarctic: The three lowest sea-ice extents on record have all been observed in the last three years.
- Record greenhouse gas concentrations: In 2023, atmospheric concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide – reached their highest observed levels. CO2 levels were 151 per cent of pre-industrial levels and are continuing to rise.
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