Billionaire mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has thrown his support behind a levy on fossil fuel companies and wants the industry to compensate Australians for the harm it is doing to the climate.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Monday, Dr Forrest also blasted nuclear energy – a technology the federal opposition has expressed interest in – and said Australia was in danger of missing its 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2035. 

“If we continue delaying, obfuscating, bringing up talking points instead of policy to save our country … that’s the risk,” he told the audience.

A few weeks earlier, the Superpower Institute’s Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims used the same stage to call for a carbon solutions levy that would initially generate $100 billion a year, a sum that would shrink over time as the economy decarbonises.

Dr Forrest said it would only hit 100 fossil fuel extraction sites and imports rather than broadly apply wherever emissions occur in the economy.

“The beauty of this levy is that it does not penalise everyday Australians, it only penalises the perpetrators of this crisis,” he said.

The proceeds would be spent on cost-of-living relief for consumers, including energy bill support, as well as subsiding the development of low carbon manufacturing of steel, aluminium and other products.

The billionaire also took issue “with this new line that we should stop the rollout of green energy and that nuclear energy will be a fairy godmother”.

“Misinformed, unscientific, uneconomic, plucked-out-of-thin-air, bulldust of nuclear policies, of politicians masquerading as leaders, helps no one,” he said.

The Coalition has yet to firm up its energy policy but is expected to reopen the nuclear debate in Australia and push for small scale reactors as a firming energy source.

Dr Forrest said he was “agnostic” on technology but nuclear was too expensive and would take too long to develop.

The billionaire has made his fortune from Fortescue, one of the biggest iron ore producers in the world, and is in the process of decarbonising the company’s operations while pursuing an ambitious green hydrogen plan at the same time.

He defended the company’s progress on decarbonisation but conceded it “was not there yet”.

As well as a carbon solutions levy, Dr Forrest called for a climate trigger in environmental law and an accelerated rollout of wind and solar, firmed with pumped hydro, batteries and gas, to replace fossil fuels.

“This is what will bring household bills down for Australian mums and dads,” he said.

 “The status quo will only make things worse, and by that I mean the fossil fuel status quo we’re struggling to maintain.”

This post was originally published on Michael West.