Huge hit to Qld coal industry as country opts out
One of Queensland’s biggest coal purchasers has dramatically announced it will completely phase out coal power by the end of next decade.
One of Queensland’s biggest coal purchasers, South Korea, has dramatically announced it will completely phase out coal power by the end of next decade.
The heavily industrialised country, which currently operates the seventh largest coal fleet in the world and last year was the fourth biggest buyer of Queensland thermal coal, revealed at the COP30 summit that its 62 power plants will be closed by 2040.
Coal power currently accounts for 30 per cent of its energy grid but South Korea says joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance will “increase our energy security, boost the competitiveness of our businesses, and create thousands of jobs”.
Almost all of South Korea’s coal is imported, much of which comes from Australia.
Queensland exported 23m tonnes of coal products to South Korea in 2024, 4.5m tonnes of which was thermal coal, worth about $590m and 11 per cent of the state’s total exports.
Independent economist Saul Eslake said announcements like South Korea’s were “inevitable”, but 15 years was “plenty of time to adjust”.
“I have thought for a long time either we would make a choice as to when we get out of the thermal coal business, and probably metallurgical as well, or our customers would make it for us,” he said.
“If we made the decision, we would have a better choice of ensuring that the impact on mining communities and workers could be more easily managed than if our customers decided to stop buying our product at some arbitrarily chosen date.”
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Janette Hewson said “coal will remain a cornerstone of the Queensland economy for many decades to come”.
“Many of our export partners rely on coal for their energy security and to build infrastructure, including wind turbines and solar panels, needed to decarbonise,” she said.
A spokesman for Queensland Trade Minister Ros Bates said the announcement was anticipated and wouldn’t impact the budget significantly. They added “Queensland’s coal exporters are effective at finding alternative markets for their coal where needed”.
But Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance said “this should send a strong reminder to Australia that our key trade partners are responding to climate science and their treaty obligations”.
The federal Coalition’s energy policy, unveiled on Sunday, left the door open to underwriting existing and new coal plants as part of its prioritisation of cheaper electricity ahead of emissions reductions.
Simon Nicholas, lead analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said given what South Korea was doing, “opening up new thermal and metallurgical coal capacity in Australia is unnecessary and unwise”.
“(And) threatening a chaotic shift away from coal when an orderly transition is preferable and possible,” he said.
Originally published as Huge hit to Qld coal industry as country opts out
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