This is a story that needs to be told. As the world's largest coal exporter, the scale and emissions from Australia's coal industry is staggering. While we might be making ground on reducing domestic emissions, these efforts are being undermined and overwhelmed by the massive global impact of our coal exports. The climate doesn’t care where emissions occur. It cares about total emissions. Australian coal burned overseas still contributes to global warming. And that contribution is immense. Emissions from Australia's exported coal are almost as large as the total emissions of the UK, France, Italy, and Spain combined.
Each year, Australia produces and exports hundreds of millions of tonnes of coal. We export around 380 million tonnes of coal per annum. When burned, this coal releases 1.2 billion tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere. That’s more than double Australia's entire domestic emissions, which sit around 490 million tonnes of CO₂e annually.
To put it in perspective, the emissions from burning Australia’s exported coal are:
2.5 times the emissions of the United Kingdom (410 million tonnes of CO₂e).
3.5 times the emissions of France (290 million tonnes of CO₂e).
More than 3 times the emissions of Italy (320 million tonnes of CO₂e).
4 times the emissions of Spain (250 million tonnes of CO₂e).
So while these and other countries work on reducing their own carbon footprints, Australia’s coal exports are driving emissions up at a massive scale.
The Contradiction: Domestic Reductions vs. Expanding Coal Mines for Exports
Yes, Australia is taking steps to reduce our domestic emissions. We’re rolling out solar and wind projects and starting to electrify transportation. But here’s the contradiction: while we are lowering our emissions at home, we are simultaneously expanding our exported emissions through the coal industry. We are thus contributing to higher global emissions.
Last week, Tanya Plibersek, Australia’s Minister for the Environment, approved three new coal mines. These will result in 1.2 billion tonnes of cumulative emissions. To put that into perspective, that's equivalent to the emissions of 65 million Australian households for a year. It’s like giving with one hand and taking even more away with the other. Domestic climate efforts are being swamped by the emissions our coal exports create elsewhere.
If We’re Serious About Climate Action, We Must Stop Exporting Coal
If Australia is serious about tackling climate change, we cannot continue to expand coal mines and export millions of tonnes of coal every year. It’s a glaring contradiction in our climate policy. No matter how much we reduce emissions at home, our coal exports emissions continue to ramp up the climate crisis.
The world is already moving toward cleaner energy. The crucible of the Industrial Revolution, the United Kingdom, just turned off its last coal-fired power station. Australia has an opportunity to join this green shift and benefit from the transition to renewables.
But we're kidding ourselves if we think we can do that while we stay addicted to exporting coal.
