New analysis by Jubilee Australia Research Centre, co-published with Fossil Free Japan and the Australian Conservation Foundation, reveals who really benefits from Australia’s gas industry – and it’s not everyday Australians or the climate.
The report reveals how Japanese and South Korean companies, banks, and public institutions – the ‘Gas Empire’ – are bankrolling Australia’s gas expansion to serve their own corporate interests.
Japan’s stake in Australian gas
Between 2008 and 2024, Japan and South Korea poured US$20.5 billion into Australian gas projects, with over 64% of this finance supplied by JBIC, Japan’s national export credit agency. While Australia has ended its own public financing of international fossil fuel projects through international agreements like the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP), it allows and encourages Japanese and Korean fossil fuel investments at home. Instead, Australia should take an active role in advocating for Japan and Korea to join the CETP and ensure that taxpayer money, regardless of its origin, supports the renewable energy transition.
The report also uncovers how Japan and Korea use diplomatic channels to pressure Australian politicians and policymakers, tampering with clean energy policies behind closed doors in order to maintain a pro-fossil fuel agenda. Australia is a member of Japan’s ‘Asia Zero Emissions Community’ (AZEC) through which the Japanese government and its corporate allies promote fossil fuel expansion under the guise of helping the region transition. Australia is currently involved in 12 projects under AZEC, eight of which involve fossil fuel technologies.
Japan’s ‘energy security’ myth
Japan often justifies its huge investments in Australian gas by claiming that it is vital for energy security. However, the report dismantles this narrative and demonstrates how Japanese LNG customers are in fact over-contracted and resell up to a third of their imported gas to other countries in Asia. In other words, Japan has a surplus of imported gas which it uses to lock in other Asian countries to gas demand. Through building import terminals and other gas infrastructure in countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Bangladesh, Japan is manufacturing gas demand and building a ‘Gas Empire’. The scale of proposed gas expansion in the region would ramp up carbon emissions and pose disastrous economic, environmental and societal risks to these communities.
Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Fossil Free Japan, and the Australian Conservation Foundation are calling for the following demands to be met by the Australian Government. Further information on these recommendations can be found in the report.
- Commit to a phase out of fossil fuel extraction, commencing with an immediate end to the approval of new or expanded gas projects.
- Ensure that the Australian government’s Commonwealth Gas Market Review considers opportunities to prohibit gas companies entering into future LNG contracts that would require the development of new or expanded gas projects.
- Negotiate bilateral decarbonisation agreements with trading partners to support an orderly transition away from fossil fuels for mutual benefit.
The report makes it clear that Australia’s gas expansion is not about serving energy security needs in the region nor helping Asian countries transition to renewable energy. Australian gas expansion serves Japan and South Korea’s Gas Empire at a colossal cost to taxpayers, frontline communities, and the climate.