The ABC Fact Check refutes continued claims from anti-coal activists that Australian coal should remain in the ground and no new Australian mines developed, Minerals Council executive director of coal Greg Evans said.
“With demand for coal in Asia expected to increase by 4.6% per year to 2040, it make perfect sense that Australia should take advantage of this demand and supply more of our high quality coal rather than allowing other countries to take this business with lower quality coal,” he said.
“Australia needs to take advantage of the natural comparative advantage we have with our cleaner coal that will help deliver higher levels of national income through greater exports and the creation of more job opportunities.
“Further, by using high-quality Australian coal, it will result in fewer emissions than if lower quality coal from other nations is used.”
The rationale from the anti-coal activists is one that hurts the Australian economy, would drive up power prices, threaten jobs and perversely, would result in higher CO2 emissions, according to Evans.
“Coal is Australia’s second largest export earner, valued at $40 billion and employs over 40,000 people directly and a total of 150,000 including related jobs,” he said.
“The industry pays over $6 billion in wages each year and has contributed over $37 billion in company tax and royalty payments between 2007-08 and 2013-14.”
Higher quality Australian coal helps reduce emissions from coal-fired power stations because less of it is required to generate the same unit of energy compared to other countries. In India, for example, 1.5 tonnes of local coal is needed to generate the energy of 1t of Australian coal.
With this natural advantage, Australia should be taking steps to increase its production of coal as demand in the Asian region is expected to increase, according to Evans.
A recent International Energy Agency Report into energy demand in Southeast Asia forecasts that demand for coal will increase more than any other energy source and will provide 40% of the 400 GW of power generation capacity that is expected to be added.
