The Queensland government has now approved the controversial Adani coal mine. This must not stop the crucial debate on how Australia can transition to a low-carbon economy.
The campaign against the mine, under the slogan "Stop Adani", has become a rallying cry for Australia's environmental movement that has gone far beyond the risks for local fauna and the precious local water supply on which Queensland has just issued a decision.
The mine has dominated, perhaps unduly, Australia's debate over how it can help fight global warming while being the world's biggest coal exporter.
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Environmentalists warn that if developing countries such as India burn this coal as fuel it will generate greenhouse gases which will contribute significantly to the rise in global temperatures.
It is a complicated debate because the likes of India will continue to burn coal regardless of whether Adani is approved. Under the Paris Treaty on climate change, Australia's main responsibility is to curb its own emissions from domestic sources and it is up to other countries how they meet their own targets.
That makes it all the more worrying that the Coalition has failed to honour that bargain by failing to develop a serious plan to transition to a low-carbon emissions economy.
The federal election, where the ALP's ambivalence towards the mine cost it a swag of north Queensland seats, appears to have tilted the political scales decisively in favour of the mine.
Voters in regional Queensland were convinced by the promise of a jobs bonanza even though Adani scaled back its plans last year, cutting the expected number of direct jobs to just 1500 once the mine is built.
The fact that the Palaszczuk government announced a decision just three weeks after the poll will only deepen concerns that politics has contaminated the science of its approval.
Whatever the merits, the decision is likely final and the federal ALP, too, will be reluctant to take the legally questionable step of promising to re-open approvals if it ever wins government.
So it will be up to Adani and the others planning their own mines in the basin, such as Australian billionaires Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer, to decide whether they think it is worth investing tens of billions.
They should realise these decions come with signficant risks. The price of coal has held steady for some time but coal consumption will have to fall dramatically if there is to be any chance of controlling rising temperatures. In that scenario, Adani and others investors could do their dough.
For their part, neither federal nor state governments should do anything to underwrite the costs or reduce the risk of these private projects.
Governments should not offer subsidies or cut environmental corners or build infrastructure such as the expensive rail line which will be needed to take the coal to port. Any government money would be better spent on helping Australia's 100,000 coal miners transition to a new low-carbon world.
Australia should also lead by example by meeting and exceeding our Paris treaty obligations. In diplomatic forums it should encourage India and other potential customers to transition gradually to renewables. It might hurt Adani's financial returns but it will be good for the planet.
Links
- Coalition Is To Blame For Uncertainty Over Climate Costs
- Both Parties Still In Climate Policy Black Hole
- The Guardian View On Greta Thunberg: Seizing The Future
- Electric Vehicles Are The Road To The Future
- ALP Climate Policy Requires Serious Scrutiny
- Young Climate Strikers Can Win Their Fight. We Must All Help
- Climate Change: Young People Striking From School See It For The Life-Threatening Issue It Is
- Politicians have no clue what effect Adani will have on water: expert
- Al Gore slams Adani, tells Queensland 'good luck' in selling coal to India
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