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Big Coal: Australia's Dirtiest Habit
Australia’s dirtiest habit is its addiction to coal. But is our dependence on it a road to prosperity or a dead end? Are we hooked for life? And who is profiting from our addiction?
Former lobbyist and political insider Guy Pearse, media and politics commentator David McKnight and environment writer Bob Burton cut through the spin to expose the underbelly of an industry whose power continues to soar while its expansion feeds catastrophic climate change.
They dissect the charm offensive (and muscle) the coal industry uses to get its way, and reveal the myth of ‘clean coal’ – and the taxpayer-funded PR machine behind it. They chart the stratospheric rise of a new generation of coal barons (some high-profile, others faceless). And they lay bare the desolation in regional communities as prime farming land and much else is strip-mined along with the coal. Most contentiously of all, they explore how Australia can break its dirtiest habit and move towards a prosperous, sustainable-energy future.
Former lobbyist and political insider Guy Pearse, media and politics commentator David McKnight and environment writer Bob Burton cut through the spin to expose the underbelly of an industry whose power continues to soar while its expansion feeds catastrophic climate change.
They dissect the charm offensive (and muscle) the coal industry uses to get its way, and reveal the myth of ‘clean coal’ – and the taxpayer-funded PR machine behind it. They chart the stratospheric rise of a new generation of coal barons (some high-profile, others faceless). And they lay bare the desolation in regional communities as prime farming land and much else is strip-mined along with the coal. Most contentiously of all, they explore how Australia can break its dirtiest habit and move towards a prosperous, sustainable-energy future.
- GenresClimate Change
272 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2013
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 18, 2023
Amazing and very important commentary said in far too many words.
December 12, 2017
Read this to get an update on the state of play of the politics of coal in Australia. Excellent information and well researched. A couple of years out of date now unfortunately. Captured the hypocrisy of governments and the power of the industry lobby very well. Claimed that tax-payer subsidies to the fossil fuel industry were running at $9 billion dollars a year, which is high. In most research I have read it usually comes in at $3-5 Billion a year. I think they were including tax breaks in that. It is still a lot when you consider the repeated claims that there should be no subsidies given to renewables. Pot meet kettle! Will try to find a more recent piece of research.
October 21, 2017
I won't pretend I read every word of this - I am not fascinated by coal. There's some good stuff here (chapter on carbon capture & storage) and some filler.
April 19, 2014
The authors argue that Australia – in planning for a massive expansive of coal production and export – is "teetering on the brink of the greatest strategic blunder in its history."
The global warming impact of the world's most greenhouse polluting fuel is front and centre in this analysis – with Australia on track to produce more CO2 emissions within two decades, than Saudi Arabia currently does from its massive oil exports.
However, they also note the negative health impacts of coal mining, transport and burning as well as the structural distortions of Australia's economy driven by coal expansion. At a time when a secure global future for coal as an energy source is no longer a settled "fact", but rather a matter of faith or assertion on the part of the coal companies. While it may be too early to tell what will be the result of major energy shifts driven by renewable energy investments and climate policies in many countries, it is fair to say that betting on major expansion of coal is a real gamble.
The book is critical of the influence the coal barons wield in Australia's political life (and this book was written before "mining magnate" Clive Palmer parlayed a small portion of his immense personal wealth and disaffection with the Liberal-National Coalition into a seat in the House of Representatives and three Senate seats – giving him and his fledgling Palmer United Party the lion's share of the balance of power in the upper house.)
While not being sanguine about either progress in international climate negotiations, nor the ease of uncoupling a widespread sense that Australia's national interests are very much aligned with, if not identical to, the interests of mining companies, the authors are modestly hopeful that the power of Big Coal can be reduced or overturned in Australia.
Climate shocks, increasing concern for other environmental impacts on, for example, the world heritage Great Barrier Reef, the unviability of most proposals to make coal a "clean fuel" and the global shift to renewable energy making large scale coal extraction and export increasingly uneconomic, all combine to make coal a risky proposition.
None of which is to say that ditching coal will be easy. Just that it is necessary.
The global warming impact of the world's most greenhouse polluting fuel is front and centre in this analysis – with Australia on track to produce more CO2 emissions within two decades, than Saudi Arabia currently does from its massive oil exports.
However, they also note the negative health impacts of coal mining, transport and burning as well as the structural distortions of Australia's economy driven by coal expansion. At a time when a secure global future for coal as an energy source is no longer a settled "fact", but rather a matter of faith or assertion on the part of the coal companies. While it may be too early to tell what will be the result of major energy shifts driven by renewable energy investments and climate policies in many countries, it is fair to say that betting on major expansion of coal is a real gamble.
The book is critical of the influence the coal barons wield in Australia's political life (and this book was written before "mining magnate" Clive Palmer parlayed a small portion of his immense personal wealth and disaffection with the Liberal-National Coalition into a seat in the House of Representatives and three Senate seats – giving him and his fledgling Palmer United Party the lion's share of the balance of power in the upper house.)
While not being sanguine about either progress in international climate negotiations, nor the ease of uncoupling a widespread sense that Australia's national interests are very much aligned with, if not identical to, the interests of mining companies, the authors are modestly hopeful that the power of Big Coal can be reduced or overturned in Australia.
Climate shocks, increasing concern for other environmental impacts on, for example, the world heritage Great Barrier Reef, the unviability of most proposals to make coal a "clean fuel" and the global shift to renewable energy making large scale coal extraction and export increasingly uneconomic, all combine to make coal a risky proposition.
None of which is to say that ditching coal will be easy. Just that it is necessary.
October 5, 2013
Repetitive - didn't actually finish because I was reading the same thing over and over again.
Informative.
Informative.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews