Extract from The Guardian
Arguments that coal is the answer to poverty are based on
“implausible economics with unsubstantiated evidence” says report led by
Kofi Annan
We’re now well passed the halfway point on the long road to Paris and
a new global climate agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Australia took its turn to defend its domestic policies and targets during United Nations talks in Germany yesterday,
You can hear the whole exchange on the UN website but in short, Australian representatives insisted that it had the policies in place to meet its “not credible” target to cut emissions by five per cent by 2020 from 2000 levels.
Just to be clear, the Australian delegation didn’t describe the target as “not credible” – that came last year from the government’s own Climate Change Authority back in 2013.
Australia also talked-up its Direct Action climate policy – a measure that asks taxpapers to pay for emissions reductions and leaves fossil fuel companies unaffected.
For too long though, Australia’s self-interest appears to match that of the country’s powerful coal industry.
But Australia could approach the UN process with a different self-interest in mind.
As a nation at the coal face of climate impacts, including droughts, heatwaves, rising sea levels and increasing temperature extremes, Australia could show ambition as it tries to persuade other nations to do the same.
But instead, at home Prime Minister Tony Abbott opens coal mines to say that “coal is good for humanity”, denies the links between bushfires and rising temperatures (telling top UN climate negotiator Christiana Figueres that she was talking through her hat) and retains the services of his top business advisor who thinks human-caused climate change is a UN hoax to create a new world order.
The Abbott Government also managed to find $4 million to host a currently homeless think tank fronted by Danish climate science contrarian Bjorn Lomborg who also happens to think that climate change might not be all that bad and, anyway, the world’s poorest really needs coal.
Many international figures have lamented Australia’s role in international climate politics, with the latest attack coming in a report produced by a group led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
“Australia has gone from leadership to free-rider status in climate diplomacy,” says the Power People Plant: Africa Progress report.
The report says that several countries, “including Australia and Canada appear to have withdrawn entirely from constructive international engagement on climate” and that “the political power of multinational energy companies and other vested interest groups weighs far too heavily in the decision-making processes of many governments.”
The report also dumps on the line that coal is the key for pulling Africans out of poverty - an argument favoured in the last couple of years by the coal industry, Lomborg and several government ministers.
The report says “the argument that coal holds the key to eliminating Africa’s energy poverty combines implausible economics with unsubstantiated evidence”.
Glencore Coal boss Peter Freyberg is the vice chairman of the World Coal Association and also a senior figure in Australia’s main mining industry lobby group, the Minerals Council of Australia.
Freyberg, who earlier this year bought a $12.4 million Sydney penthouse, told the Melbourne Mining Club his product was “still the cheapest way of bringing people out of poverty”.
Freyberg also pleaded for government policies that would help the industry to build more efficient power stations.
A new report from three climate change advocacy groups has found that between 2007 and 2014 “more than US $73 billion – or over $9 billion a year – in public finance was approved for coal,” according to the report.
For perspective, this $73 billion just for coal is more than half the total annual aid spending by OECD countries.
The report - Under the Rug: How Governments and International Institutions are Hiding Billions in Support to the Coal Industry – looked at the various money flows between government-backed investment banks and major public financing institutions.
Australia stands out as a major recipient of overseas public finance for coal and coal seam gas projects, grabbing some $3.96 billion of public financing from overseas governments.
Through Australia’s own Export Finance and Investment Corporation, the country financed some $1.39billion between 2009 and 2014 for coal industry projects.
None of the finance went to building power stations, according to the analysis, leaving coal mining projects as a key recipient.
So Australia has been putting its money where its mouth is on coal – the commodity that contributes more than any other to the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
But as Paris draws nearer, is Australia willing to sacrifice its international reputation and the future state of its own climate on the alter of coal?
Australia took its turn to defend its domestic policies and targets during United Nations talks in Germany yesterday,
You can hear the whole exchange on the UN website but in short, Australian representatives insisted that it had the policies in place to meet its “not credible” target to cut emissions by five per cent by 2020 from 2000 levels.
Just to be clear, the Australian delegation didn’t describe the target as “not credible” – that came last year from the government’s own Climate Change Authority back in 2013.
Australia also talked-up its Direct Action climate policy – a measure that asks taxpapers to pay for emissions reductions and leaves fossil fuel companies unaffected.
Australia’s real self-interest
As with all international multi-lateral talks, countries tend to enter into negotiations from a position of defending their self-interest.For too long though, Australia’s self-interest appears to match that of the country’s powerful coal industry.
But Australia could approach the UN process with a different self-interest in mind.
As a nation at the coal face of climate impacts, including droughts, heatwaves, rising sea levels and increasing temperature extremes, Australia could show ambition as it tries to persuade other nations to do the same.
But instead, at home Prime Minister Tony Abbott opens coal mines to say that “coal is good for humanity”, denies the links between bushfires and rising temperatures (telling top UN climate negotiator Christiana Figueres that she was talking through her hat) and retains the services of his top business advisor who thinks human-caused climate change is a UN hoax to create a new world order.
The Abbott Government also managed to find $4 million to host a currently homeless think tank fronted by Danish climate science contrarian Bjorn Lomborg who also happens to think that climate change might not be all that bad and, anyway, the world’s poorest really needs coal.
Many international figures have lamented Australia’s role in international climate politics, with the latest attack coming in a report produced by a group led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
“Australia has gone from leadership to free-rider status in climate diplomacy,” says the Power People Plant: Africa Progress report.
The report says that several countries, “including Australia and Canada appear to have withdrawn entirely from constructive international engagement on climate” and that “the political power of multinational energy companies and other vested interest groups weighs far too heavily in the decision-making processes of many governments.”
The report also dumps on the line that coal is the key for pulling Africans out of poverty - an argument favoured in the last couple of years by the coal industry, Lomborg and several government ministers.
The report says “the argument that coal holds the key to eliminating Africa’s energy poverty combines implausible economics with unsubstantiated evidence”.
Coal wants more
Yet only yesterday, a key coal industry figure again used this “implausible” talking point in a defence of the future of his industry.Glencore Coal boss Peter Freyberg is the vice chairman of the World Coal Association and also a senior figure in Australia’s main mining industry lobby group, the Minerals Council of Australia.
Freyberg, who earlier this year bought a $12.4 million Sydney penthouse, told the Melbourne Mining Club his product was “still the cheapest way of bringing people out of poverty”.
Freyberg also pleaded for government policies that would help the industry to build more efficient power stations.
Financing coal
But you have to wonder how much more government assistance the coal industry thinks it deserves.A new report from three climate change advocacy groups has found that between 2007 and 2014 “more than US $73 billion – or over $9 billion a year – in public finance was approved for coal,” according to the report.
For perspective, this $73 billion just for coal is more than half the total annual aid spending by OECD countries.
The report - Under the Rug: How Governments and International Institutions are Hiding Billions in Support to the Coal Industry – looked at the various money flows between government-backed investment banks and major public financing institutions.
Australia stands out as a major recipient of overseas public finance for coal and coal seam gas projects, grabbing some $3.96 billion of public financing from overseas governments.
Through Australia’s own Export Finance and Investment Corporation, the country financed some $1.39billion between 2009 and 2014 for coal industry projects.
None of the finance went to building power stations, according to the analysis, leaving coal mining projects as a key recipient.
So Australia has been putting its money where its mouth is on coal – the commodity that contributes more than any other to the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
But as Paris draws nearer, is Australia willing to sacrifice its international reputation and the future state of its own climate on the alter of coal?
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