November 20, 2017 - Australia's federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg said his country would not be signing up to the Powering Past Coal alliance – which is made up of 20 countries and two US states that want to phase out coal from power generation before 2030.

The Powering Past Coal alliance said it also wanted share technology to reduce emissions, such as carbon capture and storage, and encouraged the rest of the world to cut usage.

It comprises Angola, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Portugal, Switzerland, and the UK, plus five Canadian provinces and two US states.

Frydenberg pointed out the energy mix in those countries that had signed on was very different to Australia.

He also referred to Bloomberg’s 2017 energy outlook predicting coal would remain the bedrock of Asia’s power supply, accounting for about a third of electricity in 2040.

The Australian government’s energy policy is expected to lead to coal and gas combined making up nearly two-thirds of Australia’s power generation by 2030.

At the moment, coal alone generates about 75% of Australian power.

"Tens of thousands of Australians … rely on our coal industry and it does help lift people out of energy poverty in other parts of the world and provides billions of dollars of export income to Australia," Frydenberg told ABC radio.

Josh Frydenberg