Companies are sitting on Australian coal resources likely to generate an extra 150 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases, setting a potential collision course with international efforts to curb global warming that would strand investments.
A new report claims investments in new Australian coal, oil, and gas projects are being made with no regard for the risk that they will later be devalued as the world moves to cut emissions.
The report by the British-based Carbon Tracker Initiative and the Australian Climate Institute says companies listed on the ASX 200 spend $5.7 billion a year developing and replacing coal reserves.
It says these reserves will largely have to be left unburnt if global warming is to be kept at safe levels.
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