We’d bury hopes by killing mines

Australia should be proud of being an energy superpower.

We are the greatest exporter of LNG, the second largest exporter of coal and the third largest producer of uranium.

Our energy resources and exports are the envy of many and we’re on the doorstep of the world’s fastest growing region, where rapid urbanisation and a power-hungry middle class are driving growth in demand.

Asia has about 60 per cent of the world’s population, four billion people, and it is expected to grow by another 500 million in a decade.

Per capita electricity consumption is a yardstick for prosperity. By this measure, Australians are doing well at about 9000 kWh per year. China is 4500 kWh and India is just over 900 kWh. The Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh are even lower. Sub-Saharan Africa, with a number of countries below 500 kWh, sits at the bottom of the power pole.

This means there are billions of people with per capita electricity consumption 90 per cent lower than us. The International Energy Agency says electricity demand will increase by up to 66 per cent within 20 years and we should be helping to provide power to the billions who want it.

Yet we are facing a concerted effort by some people trying to stop this progress and deny Australia the opportunities and jobs that come from supplying energy to the world.

Trying to restrict fuel and technology choices for people in the developing world is an attempt to undermine the greatest achievement of modern history — the incredible transition whereby hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty.

These opponents of true progress have benefited greatly from the supply of cheap and reliable power yet they would deny those benefits to others.

Comforted by their cosy existence and a distorted view of social justice, they want to stop women and children from being lifted out of poverty by access to abundant and affordable energy.

Access to energy reduces the time women spend on backbreaking domestic chores, and means fewer women and children die from cooking with biomass in closed environments.

Electric light allows children to study and thereby to pursue previously unattainable educational goals, giving them opportunities their parents could not imagine.

Those who say we shouldn’t be selling our coal, uranium or gas to developing countries have no answer when asked what those countries should do if denied these resources.

Keeping it in the ground means burying the hope of a better future for many in the developing world. It’s neither fair nor reasonable.

The Minerals Council of Australia advocates for a transition to a global low-carbon outcome, including Australia’s support for the Paris Agreement and a 26 to 28 per cent emissions reduction by 2030.

We agree wind and solar are important elements of the global energy mix and are fundamental to a global transition to clean energy. Yet while storage technology remains in relative infancy, renewables won’t meet the energy needs of developing, or developed, countries or support legitimate aspirations for economic development.

As the world electrifies, we will need more of everything: coal, gas, nuclear, renewables and energy storage plus new fuel sources such as hydrogen. That way, rapidly growing energy demand can be matched with the best choice from a wide array of potential energy sources.

Trying to deny energy choice to others is not just a utopian or totalitarian fantasy. It is unethical for rich Westerners to promote policies which condemn people in South Asia and Africa to continued poverty.

As a developed country and a major energy exporter, Australia can help lift living standards and improve global political stability through developing and bringing to market low-emission technologies.

The Breakthrough Energy Coalition, formed in 2016, is focused on all low-emission technologies including renewables, storage, advanced nuclear reactors and CCS with the goal of delivering affordable and reliable energy with near zero emissions.

Its recent report, Advancing the Landscape of Clean Energy Innovation, is inspiring.

It examines a list of energy technologies, identifying 10 high-priority clean energy innovation areas including advanced nuclear reactors, electric grid modernisation and smart cities, carbon capture, use and storage and biological sequestration.

In a competitive world where our governments should be taking the lead on genuine energy innovation and emissions reduction, it’s a sad reflection on Australia that most of the things on this list barely rate a mention in our public energy discourse.

If we are to decrease emissions levels around the world and increase standards of living for some of the poorest people, all technology opportunities need to be endorsed.

This is an extract from a speech by Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable to the Energy Policy Institute.