Lynette Molyneaux and colleagues write in The Conversation (7.3.16) about the economic, environmental and other costs of continuing to mine Australian coal for export to India. They argue that producing and exporting renewable energy technologies would prove to be a less costly exercise in supplying energy to developing nations.
‘The Australian government continues to claim that coal will play a vital role in bringing cheap energy to developing nations. In particular, it’s claimed India’s poor will benefit from the development of coal reserves in Queensland’s Galilee Basin. But is that really the case?
‘In our recent research, my colleagues and I tested claims that coal will help India’s poor, relative to the impact of alternative, renewable energy sources. We found that when you add up all the costs and benefits of coal – including positives such as jobs, and adverse impacts such as those on health – renewable energy is cheaper.’