A Note for the Coal Mining Government

Perhaps our coal mining government should take note of this coal mining government:

After months of negotiations, politicians and leaders from the coal industry reached a breakthrough Sunday night. Government subsidies -- not jobs -- are to be cut back drastically and may be history as early as 2018.

Germany cannot afford long-term subsidies for the coal industry, Economics Minister Michael Glos told public broadcaster ZDF on Monday.

 

"It's much better to take those economic resources and invest them in more modern, renewable energies," he added.

 

After extensive negotiations, the premiers of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland, two of Germany's particularly coal-rich regions, and representatives of the coal union and the mining conglomerate agreed Sunday on a plan to phase out German coal subsidies.

How can we afford it if the German economy cannot?  Here are some of the subsidies that the coal industry receives:

THE GREAT COAL SWINDLE: Selling it to South East Asia
There is growing community resistance in Australia to new coal-fired power stations, as
people call for cleaner and climate-friendly renewable energy alternatives there. Yet, in
2002, as many as eight Gigawatts of new coal-fired power stations are planned in Asia,
mostly in Japan, Korea and Taiwan but also Thailand and the Philippines. This growth is
expected to boost coal imports by 20 million tonnes and will increase greenhouse gas
emissions enormously.xii
Asia is a very important market for Australian steaming coal. In 2000, steaming coal
exports to Asia formed over 90% or nearly AUD$3.4 billion worth of the 8.7 billion
tonnes of total coal exported by Australia.

This chart shows the projected increase in Australian coal imports to 2010 in South East
Asia. Coal consumption in South East Asia is forecast to rise annually by 9.5%, on
average. Consequently coal imports to these countries are expected to rise by 14% per
year to 30 million tonnes in 2010, with total coal consumption totaling 75 million tonnes.xiii
Note the unprecedented increases expected over this 18-year period in the Philippines
of 3767% , and over 250% in Malaysia, China, Korea and Hong Kong.xiv These sales are
dependent on the success of the coal industry embedding itself in these countries’
economies, but in countries like the Philippines resistance is growing.
The Australian government is trying to force these sales to Asia by providing various
subsidies – using taxpayers’ money – to coal corporations. Subsidies, and aid, should go
instead to support climate-friendly renewable energy. Some forms of ‘corporate welfare’
include:
WB
Australia contributes to the World Bank, supposedly for poverty alleviation. Yet the World
Bank has been a primary funder of fossil fuel projects, notably coal. For example in
1998, over $1.3 billion was invested in four major coal burners in China, which will
eventually release more than 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s
atmosphere. From 1993-1998, the World Bank’s US$4 billion worth of investments in
coal-fired power plants emitted 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, and its US$2 billion
worth of investment in coal extraction will emit a further 6 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide.xv

ADB
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB), another multilateral financial institution that
Australian taxpayers support, is reported to have loaned US$5 billion to companies
promoting coal-fired power capacity and coal mining development from 1994 to 2000.xvi
Its recent records show that the ADB’s energy portfolio has favoured fossil-fuel projects
over renewable sources greatly: In 1995, the ADB lent US$444 million for coal-firedpower stations but provided no finance for renewables. In 1996, ADB spent US$742
million on coal projects, and $278 on renewables and demand side management.xvii
AusAID
The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) has been a major form of
the government’s financial support to coal use in South East Asia. From 1994-96,
AusAID spent $20.78 million on coal projects, in contrast with $2.3 million on renewables
and energy efficiency. A number of projects have been critical in opening up markets for
Australian coal and coal technology.xviii Increasing emphasis by AusAID was given to
coal related projects and electricity distribution from the mid-1990s.xix
EFIC
Financing and insuring coal and energy development continues to be of specific interest
to Australia’s export credit agency, the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation. In
1996, $15.5 million was invested into coal-fired power stations and supporting
infrastructure. In 1997, this amount was $27 million (12% of EFIC’s investments for that
year), and it was $17.5 million in 1998. Most of these projects were in China or other
Asian nations.xx

Industry-Government Collaboration
There are a variety of other forms of industry assistance provided by the government,
through industry-government alliances, grant programs, tax exemptions, research and
development, geological exploration, technical databases and management services.

So instead of exporting clean technologies we are making the Asia Pacific more dirty by subsidising cheap and dirty coal.  This is while our clean industries are moving overseas.

On Thursday David Mills will board an airliner and fly to the United States to help build something that will exploit the clean and limitless energy source - solar power - that can replace our addiction to energy heroin, which is what oil and coal have become.

What is disturbing about this Australian success story is that Mills and his company, Solar Heat and Power Pty Ltd, are moving to America, where one US investor has just put $42 million into the company. "We are relocating the headquarters of our company in the USA," Mills told me.

"We will be a global company and are planning a number of large solar plants overseas. Some of the largest investors and power companies in the USA have realised that solar thermal power is a probable replacement for coal, nuclear and oil. They believe this will be very big business and power companies are willing to provide the large amount of initial equity to get the industry moving."

His departure is the latest variation on a depressing local theme. "No one here is listening to him," Michael Mobbs told me. Mobbs is an environmental lawyer best known for building the most sustainable, energy-efficient urban home in Australia, his famous "Chippendale house".

Given Australia is the No. 1 nation in the world in terms of available land and available hours of sunlight to develop solar energy, given Australia once led the world in solar energy research, given our appalling level of greenhouse emissions, and given one of the most advanced companies in the field of solar thermal energy is Australian, you might think this would be the place to build an industrial-scale solar power plant. But no.

Imagine if we did not have a coal mining government and we subsidised David Mills to export clean solar power with Canadian (used to be Australian) Vanadium flow batteries coupled with Wind Turbines manufactured in Australia by Vestas.  However ALL these clean technologies have gone offshore and and are now generating jobs and money for someone else. 

Good one Howard - what a litany of abject failure, lack of imagination and nose in the trough pork barreling.

One again a hat tip to Peak Energy for the David Mills Story.