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Posted by Ken Hickson
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17 September, 2025
THE FEDERAL government announced today (17 September 2025) it is investing $1.1 billion to help unlock “the vast economic opportunities on offer from low carbon liquid fuels” for transport, including shipping.
According to the release, the new ten-year Cleaner Fuels Program will stimulate private investment in onshore production of low carbon liquid fuels, such as renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.
It also states that Australia has the ingredients needed to make cleaner liquid alternatives to fossil fuels, with ready access to feedstocks like canola, sorghum, sugar and waste.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen added that “making cleaner fuels here, from Australian feedstocks, creates the path for emissions reduction in sectors that are hardest to clean up, like plane travel and construction machines.
“Across the nation we have 2 billion litres worth of projects in the pipeline, many of which are ready to scale up production. A new thriving domestic industry with more jobs in our regions, from farmers growing the inputs to workers refining the fuels of the future is within our reach”, he said
What about agave?
No mention is made of agave, which is also seen as ideal feedstock to produce green hydrogen, methanol, ethanol and/or SAF.
Jennifer Wainwright, founder and managing director of Agave Resources Australia (ARA), told DCN about her work with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) on several research and feasibility projects, ARA is involved in the commercialisation and supply chain development of Agave across four Australian states – Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.
As a seasoned agriculturalist, Ms Wainwright has also been passionate about making more productive use of degraded land in Australia, particularly end-of-life coal mines across her home state of Queensland.
ARA is undertaking the first agave trial of commercial scale to be planted on a rehabilitating mine to be planted and is hopeful this trial will prove Agave’s valuable contribution not only as a viable feedstock for fuel, but as a regenerative landscape solution.
As Agave is a plant that can grow on marginal or degraded land – which Australia has in abundance – she is exploring the opportunity to replenish the suffering soils in Northern Australia with large-scale planting of Agave.
When asked to comment on today’s announcement, Ms Wainwright said she noted “the glaring lack of awareness in government regarding the potential of agave, not only for low carbon liquid fuels, but also for green methanol and hydrogen”
“We are continuing the NT trial in remote Australia and developing a plantation in central Queensland. We are also preparing to plant in Southern NSW in collaboration with a partner in the ethanol production business”, she told me.
Advanced Farming Practices
The federal government announcement today on funding for future clean transport fuels, noted that Australia’s advanced farming practices and access to cheap and reliable renewable energy, meant the country is in “an enviable position to produce cleaner, low carbon liquid fuels that jets, ships, construction machines and heavy trucks need to reach net zero”.
This $1.1 billion investment, it says, will help ensure Australia has strong supply chains for the more sustainable fuels that can power our trucks, cargo ships and planes into the future.
The first production of ‘drop-in’ cleaner fuels, which can be directly substituted for existing fuels and work in today’s engines, is estimated by 2029.
Liquid fuels make up around half of Australia’s national energy use. Replacing those fossil fuels with cleaner alternatives would deliver a massive climate and economic opportunity.
Australia already exports nearly $4 billion of suitable feedstocks like canola and tallow.
Worth $36 billion by 2050
But the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) estimates an Australian low carbon liquid fuel industry could be worth $36 billion by 2050 – highlighting the untapped potential of developing local refining and value-adding capability.
Funding to make cleaner fuel on Australian shores, from available feedstock, will help back innovators from the farmer to the fuel bowser, “to make our fuel supply greener and more resilient and make low carbon fuels available for early adopters”.
Details about eligibility will be considered through public consultation and design work to take place this financial year. Grants will be awarded through a competitive process to ensure we get value for taxpayer funds.
The new production-linked incentive builds on the Government’s support through the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Funding Initiative and the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund. Recipients will also need to deliver benefits according to the community benefit principles under the Future Made in Australia Act.
The Government is also supporting the market by expanding the Guarantee of Origin Scheme to include low carbon liquid fuels and has established a fuel quality standard for renewable diesel.
A recent report from the CEFC found that a mature Australian low carbon liquid fuels industry could deliver around 230 million tonnes CO2e in cumulative emissions reduction by 2050. This is equivalent to 2.3 times Australia’s current annual transport emissions, or the annual emissions from 86 million cars.
Today’s announcement by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Julie Collins stressed that “we’re committed to unlocking more opportunities to harness our feedstocks, which is why this investment is great news for our farmers and our regional communities.
“Producing more low carbon liquid fuels right here in Australia won’t just benefit our fuel security and emissions reduction, it will support Australian farmers, foresters and our regions.
“Our farmers and foresters have always been innovators and our Government is putting their expertise and world-class production practices at the centre of growing Australia’s low carbon liquid fuel industry.
“This investment will complement our National Bioenergy Feedstock Strategy – which we are developing so our agricultural sector can seize the economic opportunities that come with feedstocks,” she said.
