The Australian government has rejected the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s call to phase out coal power by 2050, claiming renewable energy cannot replace baseload coal power.
The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said Australia should “absolutely” continue to use and exploit its coal reserves, despite the IPCC’s dire warnings the world has just 12 years to avoid climate change catastrophe. He said the government would not change policy “just because somebody might suggest that some sort of report is the way we need to follow and everything that we should do”. McCormack explained coalmining was “very, very important” because it provided 60% of Australia’s electricity, 50,000 jobs and was Australia’s largest export.
The environment minister, Melissa Price, said the IPCC report was designed to inform policymakers but that she had not read the whole report, but added Australia’s policies were “adequate” to meet its 2020 Kyoto target. She dismissed scientists who say Australia will miss its targets as “their opinion.”
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg warned that without coal “the lights will go out on the east coast of Australia”.
The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, also did not commit to the total phase-out of coal.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has claimed Australia will meet its Paris climate agreement targets of reducing emissions by 26% to 28% on 2005 levels by 2030 “in a canter”. The claim is contradicted by environment department figures showing emissions are rising and advice from the Energy Security Board that Australia will fall short under a business-as-usual scenario. Morrison ruled out exiting the Paris climate agreement but vowed not to provide more money to the global climate fund.
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