The WCA board confirmed the appointment of Sporton and Buffier at its AGM in London on Tuesday, following an extensive international search which began at the start of the year.

Sporton, who graduated from the University of Adelaide with an honours degree in politics and also studied at the Australian Institute of Management, said the WCA had a “hugely important” role to play in raising awareness of the importance of coal in the global energy mix and the significant potential of high efficiency low emissions (HELE) coal technologies and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) in reducing global carbon dioxide emissions.

He will be driving the push to promote the WCA’s global Platform for Accelerating Coal Efficiency (PACE) which it launched at the start of 2015 as a practical contribution to global efforts to reduce emissions, especially in the lead-up to the UN Conference of Parties (COP21) forum in Paris later this year.

PACE’s objective is to raise the global average efficiency of coal-fired power plants and so minimise emissions, while maintaining legitimate economic development and poverty alleviation efforts.

“As we approach COP21 at the end of this year, it is essential that any new climate agreement is technology neutral,” Sporton, who had been acting CEO since the end of last year, said.

Sporton, who had been deputy CEO at the WCA since 2012, has extensive international experience leading the WCA’s policy and advocacy work, with a particular focus on climate change, energy poverty and sustainable development. He has also led the WCA’s work on the launch of PACE.

He represented the global coal industry at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20), regularly attends UN climate negotiations and is an Associate of the Coal Industry Advisory Board to the International Energy Agency.

Buffier is group executive, coal assets at Glencore, with 35 years’ experience in the coal mining industry in Australia. He has been a director of the WCA for over four years.

Buffier said this was an exciting time for the WCA, and he was confident that with its new leadership it was well placed to play its role in meeting the global challenges facing the energy sector and making a positive contribution to global efforts to reduce emissions.

“For many countries, the reality is that the only way they can meet their growing energy needs is through affordable, readily available coal,” he said.

He cited the International Energy Agency’s projection that global electricity from coal would grow by about 33% to 2040.

“Given this growth, it is essential that there is greater investment in cleaner coal technologies to widen their deployment – this includes HELE coal technologies and CCUS,” he said.

Buffier is a director of the $1 billion Australian National Low Emissions Coal Research and Development fund, and is a former chairman and a current director and deputy chairman of the NSW Minerals Council, as well as a Ministerial appointee to the NSW Coal Innovation Council.

He is also an associate of the IEA Coal Industry Advisory Board and a peer reviewer of the IEA World Energy Outlook.