In an announcement yesterday, federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson launched the two new bodies which will guide the push towards low-emission coal technologies.

“The council will deliver a national approach to research and development and develop a national strategy aimed at accelerating the development of low emissions coal technologies,” Ferguson said.

The council will bring together stakeholders from government, industry and the coal research community to provide advice on the development and implementation of the National Low Emissions Coal Initiative (NLECI).

The NLECI aims to speed up the use of low-emission coal technologies in Australia in a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The low emissions council will be chaired by former Minerals Council of Australia chief Dick Wells, with the rest of the council membership yet to be announced.

The Carbon Taskforce will include representatives from the coal, power generation, petroleum and geological communities.

The taskforce will make recommendations to the council on priority issues for decreasing emissions and work on geological mapping, infrastructure and storage locations.

Ferguson said the Government’s $A500 million commitment was proof it was serious about reducing emissions.

“These initiatives are further evidence of the Government’s commitment to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent on 2000 levels by 2050,” he said.

“The fact is that any emission reduction must include increasing the efficiency of our coal-fired power stations which currently account for around 80 percent of our electricity supply and 32 percent of total emissions.”

The coal industry is Australia’s biggest exporter, expecting to be worth $55 billion this financial year.

The establishment of the two bodies came on a controversial day for the coal industry, when environmental activists from Greenpeace painted anti-coal slogans on coal ships waiting in line at Queensland’s Hay Point Coal Terminal.

The Queensland Resources Council was critical of Greenpeace’s actions saying the graffiti did not address the environmental issues coal represented.

“In the midst of a debate over global warming, Greenpeace is out in the cold,” QRC chief executive Michael Roche said.

Roche welcomed the Government’s new taskforce and strategy towards low-emission coal and said the lobby group recognised the need to have Australia ready for large-scale storage of carbon dioxide by 2015.

“Australia’s black coal industry was the first in the world to acknowledge the necessity to reduce the carbon emissions for coal’s combustion for electricity generation and that’s why it has committed $1 billion over 10 years for demonstration of the low emissions power technology needed by energy-hungry developing nations,” Roche said.

Queensland Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson also waved his state’s flag about the work it was doing towards cleaner coal technology.

“We’ve set up a Clean Coal Council chaired by the premier and we’re investing up to $300 million in clean coal technology,” Wilson said.

“Our investment is backed by $600 million from industry.”