The Australian government took its strategy of fighting the future to a whole new level this week, with ministers lining up to attack the ANU’s decision to abandon many of its fossil fuel investments, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott taking the coal industry’s PR line to claim that coal is “good for humanity” and has a “bright future” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
We know that we cannot burn the majority of our fossil fuel reserves, the international community is preparing for a low carbon future, and it costs more to mine and ship Australian coal than it can be sold for. Couple this with China imposing a new 6 per cent coal import tariff, its steel industry being close to peak production, and forecasters saying the decline in prices will continue as China moves away from imported coal; it’s clear to see why the Abbott government’s vocal protection and support for coal has been dubbed a “suicide strategy”.
- The notion that “coal is good for humanity” ignores not only its severe impact on health, the environment and global warming, it is based on the misleading idea that it is the cheapest form of energy. Burning Australian coal willseverely increase the cost of electricity for poor Indian consumers; while in the EU onshore wind is cheaper than coal, gas or nuclear energy when external factors like air quality, human toxicity and climate change are taken into account. Prime Minister Abbott has bought into the Coal Industry’s PR offensive, but coal is not the answer to energy poverty, and no amount of “sham”, misleading PR pushes will change this.
- Tony Abbott’s declaration that coal use should go “up and up and up in the years and decades to come” demonstrates that the government has zero interest in climate action or the security threats burning fossil fuels create. It also shows just how disconnected it is from market developments and international moves towards a low carbon economy.
- The Government may want coal to be king, but the Australian people are increasingly voting with their wallets by switching to renewable power anddivesting from risky fossil fuel investments. Those impacted by fossil fuel burning are also increasingly standing up, with Pacific Islanders moving to blockade Australian coal exports, and other international protests of Australian coal firms appearing.
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