Guest contribution by Eric Worrall
h / t Dr. Willie Soon; While Australian coal supplies are rising, likely due to the failure of the US-China climate talks, the UN has issued a new warning that coal is doomed.
Senior UN official urges Australia to urgently dispose of coal
from Nick O’Malley
September 6, 2021 – 12 noon
The United Nations’ chief climate officer has urged Australia to have a “more honest and rational conversation” about the pressing abandonment of coal, which it believes is in the best interests of the nation and the world.
Selwin Hart, UN deputy secretary-general and special adviser to the secretary-general on climate change, said wealthy nations must stop using coal power by 2030 and the rest of the world must dispose of it by 2040 if the world has global warming to within the agreed target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Market forces alone show the days of coal are numbered as many investors increasingly ditch it in favor of renewable energies, which are now cheaper in most places,” Hart said during a speech recorded for a leadership forum at the Australian National University .
“We fully understand the role coal and other fossil fuels have played in the Australian economy, even if mining accounts for a small fraction – about 2 percent – of total jobs.
“But it’s important to have a broader, more honest, and more rational conversation about what’s in Australia’s best interests because the end result is clear.
“If the world doesn’t get out of coal quickly, climate change will devastate the entire Australian economy: from agriculture to tourism to the entire service sector,” he said.
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Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/top-un-official-calls-for-australia-to-urgently-dump-coal-20210905-p58ozi.html
Note that while an annual return of 238% is impressive, I am not providing investment advice. Coal stock prices are extremely volatile, and any headwinds, such as an unexpected economic slowdown, a sudden outbreak of war, or the election of a president who turns out to be a total idiot, can have a dramatically negative impact on prices, at least in the short term.
Australia’s federal resource minister has labeled UN comments as unwanted foreign interference in Australian affairs.
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Australia’s Resource Secretary Keith Pitt shot back by assuring that coal would make a significant contribution to the Australian economy well beyond 2030.
“The future of this important industry is being decided by the Australian government, not some foreign body trying to shut it down, which is costing our economy thousands of jobs and billions of export dollars,” Pitt said, according to the Australian Associated Press.
He cited three months through July in which coal exports rose to $ 12.5 billion – up 26 percent from the previous quarter – as evidence of the importance of the commodity to the Australian economy and related jobs is what the AAP report called.
“Coal will continue to generate billions of dollars in royalties and taxes for state and state governments, and directly employ over 50,000 Australians,” added Pitt, directly challenging climate activists who join the UN and urge Australia to end the practice.
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Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/06/australia-rejects-un-demand-to-end-coal-mining-will-ignore-foreign-body/
I think we can safely say that the United Nations proposal that “market forces alone show the days of coal are numbered” is not backed by the evidence and is likely to be ambitious rather than fact-based.
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