POLICY FORUM
23 April 2021
Even if the Carmichael mine is certain to go ahead, it is still not too late for Australia to change course and abandon its destructive use of coal, Vinod Thomas and Chitranjali Tiwari write.
After all that Australia has been through from extreme effects of climate change, it is incomprehensible that the government has approved Indian conglomerate Adani’s $16.5 billion dollars Carmichael coal mine in Queensland. At capacity, the mine is expected to add a massive 55 million tonnes of coal a year to Australia’s total coal output.
This is bad news for health, the environment, and global warming. Global warming has dramatically raised the risk of the hot, dry weather associated with Australia’s bushfires — by at least 30 per cent. Carbon emissions, the chief culprit in global warming, are now 36 billion tonnes a year worldwide, and nearly 40 per cent of that comes from coal.