‘Phasing down’ phrase good news for coal says Canavan

The watered-down wording over coal in the Glasgow climate pact has been welcomed by Queensland Senator Matt Canavan as a great result for the industry. The agreement adopted in the final throes of the COP26 summit reflected an intervention by India to change the language on “phasing out” coal to “phasing down”. "There has never been stronger demand for our coal and given the fact that the agreement did not say that coal needs to be phased out or taken out, it's a big green light for us to build more coal mines, supply the world more coal," Senator Canavan said. This would help bring millions of people out of poverty, which was why countries like India would not sign up for coal to be consigned to history, he said. "They want what we take for granted - they want reliable power, growth and development and our coal and our gas and other industries help to do that," he said on morning television. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told another interviewer that he disagreed with statements that COP26 sounded the death knell on coal. "I don’t believe it did. And for all of those who are working in that industry in Australia, they’ll continue to be working in that industry for decades to come, because there will be a transition that will occur over a long period of time," Mr Morrison said. "And I make no apologies for Australia standing up for our national interests, whether they be our security interests or our economic interests. "We have a balanced plan to achieve net zero by 2050, but we're not going to make rural and regional Australians pay for that." Australia is the world’s fourth largest energy exporter, after Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States. At COP26 Australia updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement to include a net zero emissions by 2050 target. In a joint statement, Ministers Angus Taylor and Marise Payne said the latest emissions projections would see Australia achieve up to a 35 per cent reduction by 2030. "Australia’s 2030 target is fixed and we are committed to meeting and beating it, as we did with our Kyoto-era targets," they said "The government particularly welcomes outcomes on international carbon markets (Article 6) and a standardised transparency framework, which was a major focus for Australia. "Transparency is the key to accountability and to translating ambition into achievement. This goes to the heart of the Paris Agreement, which relies on all countries delivering on their commitments to achieve a global net zero outcome. "

‘Phasing down’ phrase good news for coal says Canavan

Industry Queensland

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