At least that is the view of its CEO Paul Flynn said.

Flynn said there was a lot of conflicting information about the sustainability of coal, however, the Australian industry was on course to help provide energy to its Asian neighbours as well as keep emissions down.     

"We are exporting cleaner coal to markets that have decided to take a different approach with their energy mix than the one Australia has taken, and perhaps even the ones we are contemplating,” he said.

"We are making a real contribution to global carbon emissions reductions even if – currently – Australia's policy settings are somewhat hostile to coal, and to the idea of new coal-fired generation technologies fulfilling that role here.

"To the Greens, the Australia Institute, 350.org or Greenpeace, it is inconceivable that coal, or coal companies, could be part of the energy solution. Why? It's because these groups live in a world entirely constructed on high ideals and binary propositions.”

Flynn said cheap, affordable, scalable and accessible energy had lifted millions out of energy poverty and improved living standards and life expectancy across the entire world.

“Most developed nations stood, and still stand, on this platform to elevate itself and its citizen's wellbeing,” he said.

Flynn said many millions more, mostly in countries such as China and India, and throughout South East Asia, want to share in coal's energy dividend.

"The notion that – virtually overnight – we might do away with an entire form of cheap, proven and dependable generation, just as new technology is making it more environmentally friendly than ever before, and instead turn to intermittent, unreliable and expensive alternatives that are still dependent on significant technological advances, is one we have to seriously challenge," he said.