In language reminiscent of deposed prime minister Tony Abbott, Frydenberg said environmentalists opposed to Adani’s huge Carmichael mine in Queensland, which was approved by the government last week, didn’t grasp the moral virtue of coal exports.
“There is a strong moral case here,” he told ABC’s Insiders program. “Over a billion people don’t have access to electricity. That means that more 2 billion people today are using wood and dung for their cooking.
“The World Health Organisation said this leads to 4.3 million premature deaths. That’s more people dying through this sort of inefficient energy than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids combined, so there’s a strong moral case that the green activists sometimes don’t comprehend.”
As Frydenberg stated, an estimated 4.3 million people died in 2012 due to the burning of toxic substances, according to the World Health Organisation. However, WHO said these deaths were caused by “coal, wood and biomass stoves.” Frydenberg failed to mention coal as one of the fuels causing these deaths.
In addition, WHO said an estimated 3.7 million people died worldwide in 2012 from outdoor air pollution caused by emissions from “transport, energy, waste management and industry.” In China alone, about 4,000 people die each day due to air pollution. Coal is used in about 40% of the world’s energy production.
The Carmichael mine will extract and export up to 60m tonnes of coal a year via a new rail facility to Abbot Point port, where it will be shipped overseas, primarily to India, via the Great Barrier Reef. The emissions from this coal, when burned, will create an estimated 128m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Frydenberg said the project was important because it would “create thousands of jobs, it will see billions of dollars invested into those regional economies, but most importantly of all, it will lift hundreds of millions of people out of energy poverty, not just in India but right across the world”.
“In India they produce their own coal but they can’t meet the market because they have so many people – over 100 million in India – who don’t have access to electricity.
“There’s a clear increase in demand for coal and indeed energy across the world. In fact energy demand will increase by a third between now and 2040 and the International Energy Agency says 75% of that demand will be met by fossil fuels.”
According to the IEA, coal demand will rise by 15% by 2040 but its growth will come to a “near halt in the 2020s” due to international action on climate change. India has already indicated it will phase out coal imports within three years, although this may prove unrealistic.
Without large cuts to fossil fuel use, the world’s average temperature will exceed the internationally-agreed limit of 2C warming on pre-industrial times by 2040, the IEA said, leading to major impacts upon human health, agriculture and species extinctions.
Frydenberg said the government was still keen to curb “vexatious litigation” from green groups opposed to mining projects over their impact upon the climate, water supplies and threatened species. However, the energy minister said he accepted the Senate was opposed to the idea.
It also appears unlikely that the Carmichael mine will get a slice of the government’s $5bn plan of loans to develop northern Australia, with Frydenberg telling Insiders “this wouldn’t be a priority project for us.” More than a dozen domestic and international banks have already ruled out funding the project.
Greens senator Larissa Waters said renewable energy was a much better option for developing countries than coal.
“Claiming there’s a moral case for coal exports confirms yet again how out of touch the Coalition is with the rest of the world,” she said.
“Burning coal causes local health impacts, with millions of premature deaths from air pollution a year, and pollutes local water supplies.
“There’s a strong moral case for Australia to help develop the renewable energy technology that will safely provide people in developing countries with power.”
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/18/josh-frydenberg-puts-strong-moral-case-for-coal-exports-to-prevent-deaths
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