Across Australia, we’ve always had droughts. But with climate change, now we’re seeing more of them, and they’re getting more severe.

Bushfire season across southern Australia used to start in spring; now, it’s mid-winter. Each summer, elderly Victorians and South Australians must now prepare for heat waves that last weeks on end. For many regional and remote Aboriginal communities, water supplies are running out and soaring temperatures are making day-to-day life unbearable.X

The impacts of climate change are felt everywhere. Climate change is expected to drive more than 100 million people into extreme poverty across the world over the next decadeX. Our Pacific neighbours face a terrifying future - Tuvalu is set to be uninhabitable by 2050, and by the end of the century, Kiribati is expected to be submerged entirely by rising seas caused by climate change.X

Scientists say that extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change will become even more severe unless we act now to significantly reduce our carbon emissions. But right now, Australia is heading in the wrong direction: our emissions are still going up.X 

Coal power generation is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, responsible for over one quarter of total emissions.X Given that burning coal is our leading contributor to climate change, moving our electricity supply away from coal is one of the quickest, most efficient ways to act.X

There is a pathway to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, and avoiding a catastrophic rise in global temperatures. Retiring every coal-burning power station over the next decade — and replacing them with clean energy generation and storage — is the simplest and most effective way for Australia to do our fair share of reducing greenhouse emissions to a safe level. It's our best shot to tackle climate change, protect people, and protect our planet's natural places.

Read more: 

• Read: Climate Analytics report on Paris Agreement
• Read: Climate Council report on escalating bushfire risk

Air pollution is one of the world's leading causes for ill healthX. In order to stay healthy, we need the air we breathe to be clean. But right now, coal-burning power stations are fuelling big problems for Australia's health.  

In the process of producing energy, coal power stations produce large amounts of toxic substances like mercury, sulfur dioxide and other particle pollution. When dangerous amounts of these pollutants get into our air, even small amounts can make people sick.X

As well as emitting air pollution, coal power stations produce toxic waste in the form of coal ash. The transport and storage of this toxic waste product can also pose a serious risk to communities. Australia’s coal-burning power stations produce 10-12 million tonnes of toxic coal ash every yearX, with more than 400 million tonnes of coal ash stored in ash dumps across the country.

A growing body of research has tabulated increased health risks from coal-fired power stations:

• Lethal Power, a 2020 report from Greenpeace, found that pollution from coal-fired power stations causes 800 premature deaths, 15,000 asthma attacks in children and around 850 low-birthweight babies each year.X
• An Australian Conservation Foundation report recently found that of the five most polluted postcodes in Australia, coal-fired power stations are the largest emitters in three.X
• The effects of air pollution on human health includes heart disease, stroke, asthma attacks, low birth weight of babies, lung cancer and type 2 diabetes.X  A recent epidemiological study estimated air pollution from five coal-burning power stations in New South Wales causes hundreds of premature deaths every year.X In 2018, Doctors for the Environment Australia linked abnormally low birth weights in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley to the air emissions produced by the region’s three large coal-fired power stations.X
• For some pollutants, Australia’s limits are less strict than the World Health Organisation's standardX. In 2019, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW obtained and released industry air pollution data from NSW’s Vales Point power station, showing sulfur dioxide (SO₂) pollution exceeded World Health Organisation standards on six occasions.X
• Toxic coal ash waste can pose a risk to communities and local waterways. In NSW, the Hunter Community Environment Centre found elevated levels of selenium and cadmium near ash dump overflow points in Lake MacquarieX. Around 200,000 people live near Lake Macquarie and the lake is popular for fishing and recreation amongst locals and tourists alike.
• Health impacts can be felt far beyond the immediate area around a power station, because air and water pollution can travel a long way. Due to population density and prevailing winds, Greater Sydney is the most impacted region from pollution that the Central Coast and Hunter Valley power stations produceX.
• Health risks can persist after a power station has closed. In Port Augusta, South Australia, the waste from a former coal-fired power station was held in a nearby dam. When strong winds hit the area, toxic ash became airborne and impacted on the local community. According to Port Augusta council’s chief executive John Banks, health services were “stretched to the limit and local pharmacies ran out of asthma medication… [and] there is no doubt lives were put at risk”.X
• Tighter controls can go some way towards improving health outcomes. There are pollution control measures that power stations could install to curb their emissions - but without any strict regulations requiring it, many power station owners don’t do so voluntarilyX. Tighter regulations could make a bit difference: after putting strict air pollution limits in place, 74 cities in China have reduced the presence of dangerous PM_2.5 particulates by almost a third.X The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health has published a review of research showing that children’s health improves when exposure to chemicals from coal-burning power stations was decreased.X 

For the sake of our health, closing coal-burning power stations — and properly remediating their sites — could be the best choice for our future. The sooner we move away from coal power, the better the health outcomes will be.

Right now, our energy supply is deeply dependent on coal, and our electricity grid is one of the most polluting in the worldX. Australia is the only G20 country in the OECD that still relies on burning coal for the majority of its electricity generationX — but it doesn’t have to be this way.

With more than two and a half million rooftops already fitted with solar PV, homegrown renewables just keep getting more popular. Thanks to a surge in investment, renewable energy sources like solar and wind are now also cheaper to build.X This means a large-scale rollout of renewables is the cleaner, more reliable and cheaper option to meet Australia’s energy needs. Big companies like BlueScope, Telstra and Aldi are getting involved too, making some of the largest solar power purchasing deals everX.

Australia is on track to source 30% of its power from renewable energy this year.X Even more could be possible across the whole energy system with some policy leadership and certainty at the national level. With the renewable resources we have, we could go beyond powering our country with clean sources — we could be exporting renewable energy to the rest of our region. Leading economist Professor Ross Garnaut has said that Australia could become a clean energy superpower, if we set our sights on itX — but we’ll only be able to reap these opportunities if we act before other markets do. To harness our energy potential, we need to upgrade our electricity grid, set our clean energy sights higher, and make the most of our plentiful wind and solar resources.

Read more:

• Australia could aim for 700 per cent renewables, says ARENA boss: Renew Economy
• Report: Clean Energy Council: Australia’s Clean Energy Investment Outlook
• Report: Australian Renewable Energy Council - Hydrogen offers significant exporting potential for Australia

Renewable energy is booming in Australia, and jobs are too. As clean energy surges in its popularity and affordability, a huge amount of new jobs have been created across Australia.

As more large-scale renewable projects are built, there’s been a surge in jobs for construction workers, electricians, transport and machine operators, general labourers. The Clean Energy Council estimated that the renewable energy industry was responsible for more than 25,000 jobs across the construction, operations and maintenance and rooftop solar installation sector in 2019.X

As Australia’s energy system diversifies, so too will the jobs available in the sector. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, investing in relatively new technologies — like battery storage, battery storage, hydrogen, lithium and rare earths — could be one of our best opportunities to create regional jobs and grow industry hubsX.  In Victoria, the proposed Star of the South offshore wind farm is expected to provide 12,000 jobs in construction, and 300 ongoing jobs - and could provide up to one-fifth of the state’s electricity needsX,X,X. 

This isn’t just happening at a national scale, it’s happening at a local scale too. About 2.5 million homes are now powered by rooftop solar, creating more than 13,000 full-time jobsX and a thriving industry for small businesses working on solar installation and servicing. And when local businesses go solar, the flow-on effects include an even more productive local economy: lowering costs means freeing up cash to make more investments, grow their businesses or hire more people for their core business. 

Renewable energy industry is growing fast, and it will continue to surge if we scale-up to meet demandX. After more than a century of coal-fired power, the boom in renewables in recent years means that clean energy is set to provide about 30% of our energy needs this yearX. The head of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has said that over the next decade or so, renewable hydrogen energy could emerge as “the Netflix of the energy sector”,  a groundbreaking technological step-change, delivering a massive new export market for renewables and cheaper electricity for Australian consumersX,X.

To make the most of this emerging market opportunity it’ll take businesses, communities and government working together and planning how we can all benefit. If we do it right, clean energy will surge -- and permanent, stable, well-paid jobs will too.

There is no doubt that the transition from coal power to clean energy is underway, but how that transition takes place is far from certain. And it’s crucial nobody is left behind.

Australia’s ageing coal-burning power station fleet is increasingly unreliableX and incompatible with a credible pathway to preventing runaway climate change. Careful planning and preparation is urgently needed to retire and replace these power stations in a fair and just way. 

The Port Augusta community in South Australia is still recovering from the unplanned closure of their local coal-burning power station, in which the power station owners gave workers inconsistent closure schedules and limited certainty. Similarly, the Latrobe Valley community, around Hazelwood power station in Victoria, faced serious challenges when workers were given only five months notice of the power station’s closure. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

• A transition from coal to clean energy can take place in a way that works with affected communities to create diverse, thriving local economies -- but it will take participatory planning processes, and dedicated leadership from all levels of government. The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, the Maritime Union of Australia, and the Australian Council of Trade Unions have all joined regional communities in urging governments to prioritise planning for the opportunities of a low-carbon workforce — and seize the potential for good, long-term, well-paying jobs, with great conditions for workersX,X,X. Similarly, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy has written extensively about how a true 'just transition' must be more than just a safety net for workers. A true just transition means re-imagining our economy, re-organising our approach to transition with greater emphasis on planning and cooperation, and making a commitment to social and political transformation. In their words, this transformation is "both possible and absolutely necessary".X 
• We can learn from energy transitions elsewhere in the world: in the German region of Ruhr, governments, unions and communities worked together on a consensus-based model for transitioning the local economy and workforce away from coal mining. It solidified a set of principles that meant no worker was to be forced into redundancy, no unreasonable social or economic disadvantage was to fall on affected workers, and there was an allocation of substantial funding towards diversification of local economiesX. Importantly, we can learn the hard lessons from unplanned energy transitions we've seen in coal regions like the Appalachia in the United States and make sure impacted communities in Australia are supported. Done right, a fair transition will mean more stable, permanent, long term jobs — with good conditions, and good pay.
• Every community and local economy is different. Communities need to be able to lead conversations about the diversification of their local economy, and their hopes for the future of the area. These conversations must lead to resourcing real commitments and pathways for impacted communities. To make this happen, communities, trade unions, Traditional Owners and Aboriginal community members, civil society, businesses, and all levels of government will need to engage with courage and willingness to have difficult conversations.  

We must confront the challenging of moving Australia beyond coal together. It will take all of us pulling together to support one another, collaborate on building diverse new economies, and cleaner and healthier communities — where nobody is left behind.