The G7 leaders – Stephen Harper (Canada), Francois Hollande (France), Angela Merkel (Germany), Matteo Renzi (Italy), Shinzo Abe (Japan), David Cameron (UK) and Barack Obama (US) called for "deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions", with "a decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century".
While Oxfam is no friend of the coal industry – declaring this week that it’s the single biggest threat to winning the fight against hunger – it highlighted a stunning hypocrisy among the world’s most powerful economies over fossil fuels.
The report, sardonically titled Let them eat coal, revealed that G7 coal power stations emit twice as much fossil fuel carbon dioxide as the whole of Africa.
Oxfam also declared that the G7’s contribution to global warming will cost Africa alone more than $US43 billion ($A56.23 billion) per year by the 2080s and $84 billion by 2100, and lead to several million tonnes of staple crops lost worldwide.
“This is 60 times what G7 countries give Africa in agricultural and rural development aid and more than three times what G7 countries give Africa in total bilateral aid,” Oxfam said. “Global costs of G7 coal emissions will be $260 billion per year by the 2080s and $450 billion per year by the end of the century
“Each coal power station can be seen as a weapon of climate destruction – fuelling ruinous weather patterns, devastating harvests, driving food price rises and ultimately leaving more people facing hunger,” Oxfam said.
“With these climate impacts falling disproportionately on the most vulnerable and least food-secure people, the burning of coal is further exacerbating inequality. Without urgent action, climate change could put back the fight against hunger by several decades.”
Harsh words indeed – but not compared to what Oxfam reserved for the G7.
“While more than half of today's coal consumption is in developing countries, the scale of G7 coal burning is considerable,” Oxfam said.
“If G7 coal plants were a single country, it would be the fifth most polluting in the world. G7 coal plants emit twice as much fossil fuel carbon dioxide as the entire African continent, and 10 times as much as the 48 least developed countries.
“Five of the G7 countries (including the 2015 chair, Germany) are actually burning more coal since 2009, the year of the Copenhagen climate summit. G7 countries must switch from a ‘do as we say’ approach to ‘do as we do’ by phasing out their own coal pollution.”
Oilers would have noticed Obama photographed by Reuters at the lavish G7 retreat sitting next to Cameron and, on his left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The first thing that may have sprung to mind was how on earth Obama and Cameron could reconcile their public statements and actions on the importance of hydrocarbons, not just to the developing world but to their own people.
While Obama’s well-reported “war on coal” is widely known, it’s also old news that the US shale boom has resurrected the country’s economy, especially its critical manufacturing sector, with the low gas prices that it has facilitated.
Meanwhile in the UK, only this week GMB national secretary Gary Smith said having access to gas was “a matter of national security”, as his trade union signed a joint charter with UK Onshore Oil and Gas to ensure gas was “recognised as essential to British industry and households”
Germany, meanwhile, has long been known as a leader in the renewables front, signing up for a program based on wind and solar power designed to provide 80% of Germany’s energy demand by the year 2050.
Yet when Sweden’s new socialist government was elected last October and ordered state-owned Vattenfall to get rid of its German coal mines, either by closing or selling them, it prompted an urgent letter from German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel to Sweden’s new Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.
The letter warned that if Vattenfall abandoned plans to expand its German mines there would be “serious consequences for electricity supplies and jobs”
Japan, meanwhile, has been attacked by environmentalists for funneling $US1 billion ($A1.31 billion) earmarked for “climate finance” for plants in Indonesia alone – and more on the way in India and Bangladesh.
As the G7 leaders seek to boost their green cred ahead of the UN Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris in March, Big Oil has also been piling on the pressure, with Europe’s biggest players writing to the UN calling for the world’s governments to implement connected carbon pricing systems, once again targeting coal.
Amid all this, it appears the World Coal Association’s efforts have been falling on deaf ears.
The WCA’s PACE (global Platform for Accelerating Coal Efficiency) plan launched last year states that raising the average efficiency of the global coal fleet from the current 33% to 40% would save 2 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions.
This is the equivalent to India’s annual carbon dioxide emissions or running the Kyoto Protocol three times over.
This week the WCA, headed by two Australians, let rip at the G7 leaders’ statement on fossil fuels.
In line with its PACE initiative, the WCA said yesterday that more investment in cleaner coal technology was needed to support developing and emerging economies meet development and climate objectives.
“Leaders of the G7 need to recognise that coal is playing a critical role in bringing affordable, reliable electricity to hundreds of millions of people in developing and emerging economies, particularly across Asia,” newly installed WCA CEO Benjamin Sporton said.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global electricity from coal is expected to grow by around 33% to 2040. Demand for coal in Southeast Asia alone is expected to increase 4.8% a year through to 2035.
“Rather than wishing away fossil fuels, world leaders should be committing to investment in 21st century coal technology – high efficiency low emissions power generation and carbon capture, use and storage,” Sporton said.
He pointed out that high efficiency low emission (HELE) coal technologies provided significant immediate carbon dioxide reductions and were a key step on the pathway to carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS).
“I urge G7 leaders to support an international climate treaty in Paris that provides policy parity for all low emission technologies,” Sporton said.
“That means they should help ensure that the most advanced coal technologies are used now and provide clear support for the deployment of CCUS through climate financing mechanisms, especially the Green Climate Fund.
“Only by treating development and climate objectives as integrated priorities will we achieve a successful agreement in Paris.”
