Coal news and updates

Australia joins India and China in resisting G20 call to phase out coal

Australia is fighting alongside India and China to resist a global bid to phase out coal as leaders of the world’s biggest economies negotiate a draft pledge at the G20 summit in Rome this weekend about the need to stop the “existential” threat of climate change.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will not support a push by G20 members to set a date to end coal mining and coal-fired power stations if other leaders try to use the issue to build momentum for stronger action at a United Nations climate summit that begins in Glasgow on Monday.

The stance puts Australia on side with other big resource economies to prevent a G20 outcome that endorses a call from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for advanced economies to stop using coal by 2030 and for other countries to follow by 2040.

French President Emmanuel Macron revived the issue on Thursday night in a phone conversation with Mr Morrison where he rebuked the Prime Minister for cancelling a $90 billion submarine contract and named coal as a key concern in climate policy.

A statement from Mr Macron’s office said he encouraged Mr Morrison to adopt ambitious climate policies including a plan to “cease production and consumption of coal” at the national level and abroad.

Mr Morrison firmly rejected that idea after arriving in Rome, telling reporters that his government would not impose the sort of mandates other leaders were proposing.

“Our policy is very clear: we’re not engaged in those sorts of mandates and bans, that’s not the Australian government’s policy, it won’t be the Australian government’s policy,” he said.

“All countries are coming at this task from different places, their economies are different and as a global community we’ve got to understand that.”