Press release – 28 March, 2017WEDNESDAY March 20, 2017: New research highlighting the decline of coal worldwide combined with recent bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef should serve as a wakeup call to stop using taxpayers’ money to prop up a dying industry.The report,
Boom and Bust 2017: Tracking the Global Coal Plant Pipeline,
was released today by Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and CoalSwarm and showed the number of coal-fired power plants under development worldwide has sharply decreased in 2016, mainly due to shifting policies in Asia.
The report found:
A 62 per cent drop in new construction on coal plants
The total capacity of coal-fired power projects in planning and construction globally fell by 40 per cent from 1,428 GW in January 2016 to 855 GW in January 2017 – a drop equal to the coal-fired power capacity of the entire OECD
85 per cent decline in new Chinese coal plant permits
Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling on state and federal governments to withdraw support for all new coal projects, and to specifically commit to not loaning almost $1 billion in funding from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to the proposed Adani mega-mine in Queensland.
“This new report shows that the world is turning its back on coal,” Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.
“India has already stated it won’t import Australian coal in less than three years’ time [1] and Chinese use of coal is rapidly decreasing. [2]”
“Despite this, Australia is considering using almost a billion dollars in taxpayer money to prop up the Carmichael coal mine while natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef are destroyed by global warming.
“With the Reef now suffering its second bleaching event in two years, it’s crucial that our government says no to new coal projects before it’s too late”
Despite generous taxpayer subsidies to fossil fuels, the proposed Carmichael coal mine has so far been unable to secure the substantial funding it needs.
Fourteen global banks have ruled out involvement in the project forcing its proponents to go hat-in-hand to the Australian government to ask for a billion dollars of taxpayer money via the NAIF to build the huge mine.
“This is a foolish waste of taxpayer money, even if you ignore the environmental consequences of coal – like the recent mass-bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef,” Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.
“China, India, and Europe are turning their backs on coal and more than 70 per cent of the world’s annual power sector investment goes to renewables [3].
“It’s time for Australia to do the same and stop propping up dirty coal.”
[1]
http://www.businesstoday.in/current/policy/govt-considering-thermal-coal-import-in-two-three-years/story/231166.html
[2] In China, coal consumption fell by approximately 1.3% in 2016,
according to recently released statistics.
[3]
https://www.iea.org/media/publications/wei/WEI2016FactSheet.pdf
For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
Tel: 0418 219 086
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