Australian Energy "Green Paper" foresees continuing increase in coal use: undermines 2°C goal and heads towards 4°C world

Date Published 2014, September 24

Authors Bill Hare, Fabio Sferra, Michiel Schaeffer Niklas Höhne, Hanna Fekete, Louise Jeffery, Marcia Rocha, Cindy Baxter, Karlien Wouters

The “Green Paper” foresees a future strong growth in coal use globally over the next several decades arguing that “Most energy analysts confirm that coal will continue to be a major source of global energy for decades to come”. In particular, the Green Paper assumes rapid increases in coal demand from Asian economies and proposes to align Australian government policies to facilitate accelerated approval of developments to support this.