Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Dr. Willie Soon; As Aussie coal stocks soar, likely thanks to the breakdown in climate talks between the USA and China, the UN has issued a new warning that coal is doomed.
Top UN official calls for Australia to urgently dump coal
By Nick O’Malley
September 6, 2021 — 12.00amThe United Nations’ top climate official has urged Australia to have a “more honest and rational conversation” about urgently abandoning coal power, which he said was in the nation’s and the world’s best interests.
Selwin Hart, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action, said wealthy nations must stop using coal power by 2030 and the rest of the world must dump it by 2040 if the world is to keep global warming to within the agreed target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Market forces alone show coal’s days are numbered, as many investors increasingly abandon it in favour of renewables, which are now cheaper in most places,” said Mr Hart during a speech recorded for an Australian National University leadership forum.
“We fully understand the role that coal and other fossil fuels have played in Australia’s economy, even if mining accounts for a small fraction – around 2 per cent – of overall jobs.
“But it’s essential to have a broader, more honest and rational conversation about what is in Australia’s interests because the bottom line is clear.
“If the world does not rapidly phase out coal, climate change will wreak havoc right across the Australian economy: from agriculture to tourism, and right across the services sector,” he said.
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Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/top-un-official-calls-for-australia-to-urgently-dump-coal-20210905-p58ozi.html
Note that while a 238% annual return on investment is impressive, I am not giving investment advice. Coal stock prices are extremely volatile, and any headwind, such as an unexpected economic slowdown, sudden outbreak of war, or the election of a President who turns out to be a complete moron, can have a dramatic negative impact on prices, at least in the short term.
Australia’s federal resource minister has slammed UN comments as unwanted foreign interference in Australia’s affairs.
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Australia’s Resources Minister Keith Pitt shot back by affirming coal would remain a significant contributor to the Australian economy well beyond 2030.
“The future of this crucial industry will be decided by the Australian Government, not a foreign body that wants to shut it down costing thousands of jobs and billions of export dollars for our economy,” Pitt said, according to the Australian Associated Press.
He pointed to three months to July that saw coal exports soar to $12.5 billion – a 26 per cent increase on the previous quarter – as evidence of just how vital the commodity remains to the Australian economy and the jobs that go with it, the AAP report said.
“Coal will continue to generate billions of dollars in royalties and taxes for state and federal governments, and directly employ over 50,000 Australians,” Pitt added, in a direct challenge to climate activists who join the U.N. in demanding Australia cease and desist the practive.
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Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/06/australia-rejects-u-n-demand-to-end-coal-mining-will-ignore-foreign-body/
I think we can safely say the UN’s suggestion that “market forces alone show coal’s days are numbered” does not appear to be supported by the evidence, and is likely more aspirational than fact based.
I am not giving investment advice, but, Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel.
I had a good laugh when I saw the article, “Britain starts coal plant after gas prices surge.”
They are waking up to what the critics have been repeatedly saying:
the alternative energy the country uses is either providing insufficient power or becoming too expensive
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/britain-restarts-coal-plant-after-gas-prices-surge
If these people knew anything about investments, they would be billionaires – not salaried UN apparatchiks.
Meanwhile, oil prices are up and OPEC is saying no to more production.
Gas prices are up as the World recovery demands more energy.
The demand for energy is probably not going away.
To me, coal looks like a good short term investment for a few years. (This is not financial advice- make your own choices!)
‘Climate Savvy’ == ‘Not Savvy’ == Stupid.
Yeah, I always look to career, self-serving, bureaucrat parasites for investment advice.
It’s a tag team with China and the UN against Australia at this point. Better route the coal through Indonesian ports to India.
Who cares about the UN?
China matters because it is a large trading partner but the UN is an incompetent and toothless bureaucracy which has long passed it’s used by date.
Someone has to care with so many countries selling their UN votes to Russia and China and the UN now administering the Climate Crusades.
Dead right. UN had utility during the cold war, but Russia, China and others learned from that and quietly installed their people in key positions. Now, the stinking pile is far worse than just a waste of money.
UN against Australia at present demanding an end to coal mining and use of coal aided by a British PM with a woke wife.
IPCC Glascow Conference in his mind and ambitions.
Does he not remember the damage done to the Australian, New Zealand and other Commonwealth of Nations member countries when GB joined the EU and cancelled imports from those allies?
Now the GB PM wants Australia to stop a major export income source, coal mining?
And coal that fuels our steel mills and electricity grids generating over 70 per cent of that energy.
Here’s the reply of Australia’s climate spokesperson to the UN official:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-58476891
If the price of a resource, such as coal, is rising, that shows that there is demand for it. Australia has a relatively small population for its land area, but there is nearby China building coal-fired power plants very rapidly, and Australian coal companies could reap huge profits selling coal to China. How do “market forces show that coal’s days are numbered” in this case?
The article does state that “the election of a President who turns out to be a complete moron” could mess things up, like the one who was elected in November 2020 in the USA.
“…the election of a President who turns out to be a complete moron” could mess things up, like the one who was elected in November 2020 in the USA.”
There was a recent poll remarking that Zhou Bi Den’s approval rating had slipped to 48%. I want to know who those 48% of morons are who think he’s still doing a good job.
Particularly since production is also rising.
Following many years of Green opposition a Queensland coal mine owned and operated by Adani, a company from India, has commenced production and export of coal to India and the mine will be operational for many future decades based on the coal reserve in the ground at that mine site. Billions of dollars invested already and now a beginning to achieve returns on investment for shareholders.
And India very much needs the high quality coal for electricity generation and supply to the large areas of India now without electricity and for many other reasons and purposes.
And the GB PM with the UN says STOP?
Maybe the Brits actually read this: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/09/02/reliability-challenges-in-meeting-new-yorks-climate-act-requirements/
So, UN is in the business of steering markets. Nice (pun intended).
Reports of the death of coal have been greatly exaggerated.
Only healthy and wealthy countries like the USA, Germany, Australia, and the UK can subsidize electricity from breezes and sunshine, and intermittent electricity at best. Thus, the wealthy countries may be able to divest of coal.
The 80 percent of the 8 billion on earth living on less than 10 dollars a day cannot subsidize themselves out of a paper bag. Those poorer countries must rely on affordable and abundant coal for reliable electricity, while residents in the healthy and wealthier countries pay dearly for those subsidies with some of the highest cost for electricity in the world.
China is playing a medium term game to obtain a lot of Australia’s coal assets for next to nothing. They can then direct ship as much coal as they like and report zero emissions.
Help us prove our Sidel Carbon Capture Utilization System. Coal can be combusted and emit near zero CO2 and any other emissions. America has over 500 years of good quality coal. Lets make America Energy Wise.
Sid has spent the last few years trolling this site, trying desperately to find someone to invest in his company.
It’s a solution that doesn’t work, for a problem that doesn’t exist.
Since when did a bureaucracy ever get anything right ?
Always right, isn’t that why the public servants keep receiving pay rises well above the private sector employees who pay the real taxes that finance the governments and public services?
UN must have used climate models to get this forecast…..
Another quote from Keith Pitt that is a beauty . Support for “green” energy is a mile wide and an inch deep.