Dr Liu Warns Australia Against Investing in New Coal Mines

Image Source: South China Morning Post

A Chinese renewable energy expert has warned Australia against investing in new coal mines because her country, one of Australia's biggest coal customers, is moving rapidly away from coal-based energy production. Australian thermal coal prices have dropped this year as China officials slowed customs clearance. When asked if Australia should be nervous about China’s shift away from coal, Joint US China Collaboration on Clean Energy chair Peggy Liu gave the example of BETA tape, fax machines and compact disc drives. She said that “My children who are now 14 and 16 asked me when they were about eight years old, ‘Mum, what is a fax machine?”

Dr Liu said her point was that “last decade's” technologies and the jobs they supported no longer existed. She was asked how Australia could keep jobs in regional centres if mines, producing between 800 and 1500 jobs, were not approved.

Source : SMH