that found if green iron replaced iron ore as a primary export, it could generate up to $386 billion annually by 2060. By comparison, Australia’s iron ore exports are typically around $120 billion per year.

This would provide a strategic hedge against the expected decline in coal exports.

With a large scale green iron or steel industry, Australia could not only help decarbonise its own economy, but that of its iron customers, who would be purchasing Australian green energy embodied in the iron products. This would be far more efficient than exporting Australian hydrogen and iron ore to be produced offshore into iron and steel, and it could reduce global emissions by 4 per cent, Garnaut argues.