Australia continues to frustrate efforts by fellow G20
members to include climate change on the agenda at the upcoming leaders' summit
in Brisbane this weekend. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott - an avowed
sceptic of human-caused climate change (In 2009, he described the established
science of climate change as "crap”. Opening a new coal mine in October,
Abbott lavished unbridled praise on the industry, describing it as "good
for humanity"). - has resisted calls for global warming to be discussed
when world leaders gather on November 15 and 16. Climate change was on the
agenda at the previous eight G20 summits. The financial and environmental
stakes on the climate change debate are high. According to Greenpeace,
emissions burned from Galilee Basin projects alone would be enough to create a
global carbon tipping point.
Australia is the world's second largest net exporter of
coal, one of the world's leading sources of carbon emissions. The Minerals
Council, an industry lobby group, said coal accounts for 4.6 percent of GDP,
generating $50bn for the national economy and raising $24bn in taxes. Australia
is in the middle of a production boom involving the opening or expansion of 120
new mines. Two of the biggest, the Carmichael and Alpha mines in Queensland's
Galilee Basin, will add a combined 90 million tonnes to Australia's production
each year. Their development will include expansion of port facilities in close
proximity to the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef (a highly critical
UNESCO report, released in June, threatening to list the site as "in
danger" should concerns over rapid coastal development within the reef's
ecosystem not be assuaged. International investment banks have signalled an
unwillingness to provide funds to the projects, citing UNESCO's concerns.)
Campbell Newman, premier of Queensland State, put the
political equation bluntly in June, saying: "We are in the coal business.
If you want decent hospitals, schools and police on the beat, we all need to
understand that."
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane made clear the government's
opposition to tackle climate change and raise costs in the mining sector in
March. "The mining industry has been central to the Australian economy
over the past decade and its contribution will be more important than ever in
the years ahead," he said, adding scrapping the carbon tax would encourage
the industry's growth.
"Both Australia's major parties have either been
captured by the mining lobby or are intimidated by it," Clive Hamilton, a
professor in public ethics at Charles Sturt University, told Al Jazeera. Recent
corruption scandals exposed extensive links and illegal deals between the
resources industry and politicians. An independent inquiry into corruption in
the state of New South Wales identified 26 reforms to lessen corruption in the
state's management of coal resources. "Corruption in NSW is small beer
compared to the corruption of the policy process at a national level,"
said Hamilton.
The new Alpha and Carmichael mines, both backed by Indian
mining companies looking to secure supply to India's coal-fuelled power
stations, have met opposition in Australia and India. Environmental groups
claim burning coal for electricity production is responsible for between 85,000
and 110,000 deaths in India each year. Mumbai-based
Conservation Action Trust (CAT) has initiated legal proceedings in Australia's
courts opposing the Carmichael mine's development, on the basis of the
resultant environmental damage in India and Australia.
"Burning an additional 60 million tonnes of Australian
coal in India would add to the number of deaths and increase the number of
people suffering from asthma and chest ailments," said Debi Groenka from
CAT. Coal is considered a cheap energy source, but the electricity it produces
is out of reach for one-quarter of India's population. Groenka said affordable
renewable energy sources are more likely to provide electricity to India's
impoverished millions than a new fleet of coal-fired power plants. "The
establishment of new coal power stations in India will result in the loss of
biodiversity and deplete the natural resources on which 300 million Indians -
who live below the poverty line and have no electricity - are dependent for
their survival," said Groenka.
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