2020-11-18
The Australian Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has called on the leaders of the Liberal, Labor and National parties to stop peddling fantasies and come clean with coal communities about the rapid decline of demand towards 2030.
Australia’s three biggest top thermal coal and gas customers have announced zero emissions targets, which would mean a rapid de-carbonization of the electricity sector in the next two decades, with targets likely to be similar to Joe Biden’s 2035 zero-carbon electricity pledge.
($) (% of Aust exports)
LNG
($) (% of Aust exports)
However, Liberal and Labor continue to work from the same false script:
“Coal will continue to play an important part of our economy for decades to come” - Scott Morrison, 15/9/20
Coal mines “will continue to operate and continue to export coal for a considerable period of time” - Albanese 18/11/20
“Liberal and Labor are selling out coal workers by refusing to tell them the truth about the future of exports and domestic use,” Greens Leader, Adam Bandt said.
“The Greens are better friends of coal workers than Liberal, National or Labor, because we’re the only ones prepared to tell the truth and plan for the transition.
“Three-quarters of Australia’s thermal coal exports are set to collapse, but Liberal and Labor are refusing to plan for the future.
“We’ve seen in this country what happens when industries come to an abrupt end without a plan for workers and communities and the Greens don’t want to see that happen again.
“This is the critical decade and the world is amping up short term targets ahead of the next global climate summit, which will be a race to the top on 2030 targets.
“Coal is in rapid decline and we have precious little time to build the green industries, jobs and products to be ready for the future.
“It’s a failure of courage and an abdication of leadership to give false assurances in the face of the economic facts and climate science,” Bandt said.