Australian coalmining has become a ”rogue industry” and most of the coal slated for export must stay in the ground if the nation is to tackle climate change, according to prominent US environmentalist Bill McKibben.
Many coal projects, and coal infrastructure projects in Queensland, are expected to run for decades, and are only now gaining development approval.
But the federal government has pledged to reduce Australia’s greenhouse output by 80 per cent by the middle of the century, putting it on a collision course with the resources expansion.
”If the world ever takes climate change seriously, that coal simply has to stay in the ground,” Mr McKibben said. ”There’s no physical way to burn it, or Canada’s tar sands, or Venezuela’s shale oil, and not go over the red line that almost all governments, including Australia’s, have drawn at two degrees.”
Australian-mined coal burned overseas generates about 711 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, but when new mines are taken into account, that total will be up to 1431 million tonnes in 2020, and 1738 million tonnes in 2025.
Click to read the full story.
