NEW COAL HAS NO FUTURE in Australia’s energy mix, with the cost of new coal power stations hugely expensive and fundamentally at odds with cutting Australia’s rising greenhouse gas pollution levels, according to the Climate Council.

Climate Councillor and energy expert Professor Andrew Stock said that “building new coal power stations are far from the cheapest option for replacing Australia’s ageing, inefficient and polluting coal fleet.”

“Australia’s existing coal power stations already struggle to operate in extreme weather conditions, including severe heatwaves, with Australia’s coal and gas power stations tripping over 40 times during the 2017-18 summer,” he said.

“Bringing on renewable energy such as wind and solar plants, paired with battery storage, are cheaper, faster to build and more reliable than new coal and gas.”

“New coal power stations will be expensive and risky for energy users, whether households or businesses. Any new coal power station would require billions of dollars in taxpayer or consumer subsidies to have any chance of being built.”

“Building new coal power stations ignores the critical need to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. A new coal power station will still emit hundreds of millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution over its life, even though that may be 20% less than an equivalent old coal power station. Renewable power emits zero greenhouse gas pollution.”

“There is no such thing as ‘clean’ coal,” said Professor Stock.

Professor Stock said, “Australia’s transition to a future powered by clean, affordable and reliable renewable energy and storage is already underway, driven by the Renewable Energy Target and state and territory policies.”

“The Federal Government’s proposed National Energy Guarantee (NEG) is a woefully inadequate response to the urgent threat of climate change, risks derailing Australia’s booming renewable energy and storage sector, costing thousands of jobs” he said.

Australia needs a credible climate and energy policy in order to accelerate the transition away from ageing, inefficient and polluting coal towards clean renewable energy and storage solutions” he said.

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For more information please contact Senior Advisor – Media and Stakeholder Engagement Kurt Hermann on 0421 007 510.

The Climate Council is Australia’s leading climate change communications organisation. We provide authoritative, expert and evidence-based advice on climate change to journalists, policymakers, and the wider Australian community.

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