CM – Australia’s coal country looks to a less sooty future

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November 11, 2021

by Andrew Leeson

Australia’s Conservative leaders have resisted calls for urgent climate action, bragging that they will sell coal while someone buys. But in the country’s carbon-rich heartland, locals are already preparing for a life beyond fossil fuels.

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Two hundred and thirty years ago a group of escaped convicts made the first recorded coal discovery on the Australian continent between the green outcrops flanking the southeastern coastal city of Newcastle.

It would begin Australia’s long love affair with the sooty fuel, the Land now brings in tens of billions of dollars a year and has made Newcastle the largest coal export port in the world.

Nathan Clements was born and raised in the nearby town of Singleton, which he described as « the very heart of coal mining here ».

« My older brother worked in a coal mine, my father worked in a mine and still does it today. When it was my turn it was normal to go into that industry, » said the 26-year-old, who He has worked as an electrician and repaired mining equipment for the past seven years.

In the outskirts of Singleton and the wider Hunter region, the evidence of the enormous scale of the coal industry is evident.

Coal trains rumble through the countryside, every locomotive pulls a winding column of rusty wagons from afar.

From the air, open-cast mines cover the bush with pitch-black scars. An armada of ships is waiting off the coast, ready to return to China, India, Japan or South Korea with mountains of rock that is thousands of years old.

When dozens of countries recently agreed to phase out coal during COP26 talks in Glasgow agreed, reluctantly Australia.

« We are not closing coal mines and we are not closing coal plants, » said Resource Secretary Keith Pitt, taking the opportunity to brag about the quality of Australian coal and 300,000 Australian jobs related to the sector.

But im Contrary to the government, workers in Singleton and towns across the Hunter are starting to come to terms with the demise of King Coal.

« I still have to work. I still need a job, « said Clements, but » it’s inevitable.

He was beginning to realize that he might not be able to follow his father’s career path, who will enter the next year with his coal job It will retire when Muswellbrook – Australia’s oldest open-pit coal mine – closes after almost 115 years of operation.

Clements said the discussion about the future of the industry has become much less taboo with the catastrophic events of recent years and that skepticism has become more mainstream .

« I’ve noticed a change in attitudes towards the 2019-2020 bushfires in many people, » he said, referring to the climate-worsened disaster that struck much of southeast Australia.

The very largest mining companies, such as Australia’s own BHP and Rio Tinto, are already sprinting for the exits and are quickly relocating coal plants to smaller risk-takers.

Official figures show that the number of people directly employed in the coal industry is closer to 44,600 – less than half of the Australians employed by McDonald’s.

Some in the coal sector fear that well-paid jobs will soon be a thing of the past.

But others are optimistic that despite Canberra’s intervention in what appears to be a dying industry, their region will thrive. « There are so many innovations, » said Sam Mella of Beyond Zero Emissions, a think tank that works with local industry Diversification is working.

She pointed to the infrastructure surrounding coal – the port, rail network, transmission lines, and universities and research institutes – as a valuable asset for the region.

« We have this fantastic legacy that we are upon can build up, « she said. « I think the Hunter will lead the post-carbon economy. »

So far, there is no silver bullet – no technology or project that can save the entire region or replace coal.

But there is hope that something will emerge from the plethora of projects, from water filtration technology to megawatt-scale batteries, to the design and manufacture of hyper-efficient wind turbines.

« My concern is that when the market finally says, ‘Nah, we’re no longer interested’, that we have no plan and a lot of people are losing their jobs. « 

But » I think there is still a chance for the region, I think not that it’s a one-way ticket, « he said. « There is definitely still a bit of life in there. »

© 2021 AFP

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