Former Australian Coal Executive Calls For Clean Energy Amid 'Existential Threat' Of Climate Change

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/01/08/australia-fires-coal-climate-change?fbclid=IwAR0Z58rzXN2C4vKTu7rCuihhkAMd0Ex4nrth-xMztdwtj5ry0n0WgOlguU8

January 08, 2020
Jeremy Hobson
Serena McMahon

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Coal is a big business in Australia. Economically, coal is Australia's most valuable export, with black coal resources occurring in a majority of the country’s states.

Politically, the industry is closely tied with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a vocal advocate for coal. Morrison has deemphasized the link between the raging bushfires and climate change.

The government, hand in hand with the country’s coal industry, has repeatedly chosen a denialist stance on climate change science, says Ian Dunlop, senior member of the advisory board for the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration, an independent think tank based in Melbourne.

“There is no question that the continued use of coal is impacting the climate,” Dunlop says. “And obviously our coal industry has to think very hard about that.”

Dunlop is no stranger to the fossil fuel industry — he was once an international oil, gas and coal executive and former chair of the Australian Coal Association. He says he left his position in the late ‘80s after recognizing the science behind climate change and since then, has been an advocate for clean energy.

“As time’s gone by over the years, the science has improved dramatically and the evidence has gotten clearer and clearer, and there comes a point when you have to do something about it,” he says.

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There will be a cost in making the switch to a low-carbon economy, but in the long run, it’s worth it, he says.

“It's not just going to happen easily. It is going to have an impact on economies all around the world,” he says. “But the costs of doing nothing are far greater, as we're now starting to see in Australia, because the impact on the economy of what is now happening in the last three or four or five weeks is going to be enormous.”

Dunlop is working toward making sure Australia’s political leaders and corporate executives aren’t allowed to “deny reality” — a delusion he says can be partially attributed to Rupert Murdoch-run conservative media outlets. Australian-born Murdoch, founder of News Corps which owns Fox News, has a history of political activity in Australia.

The more the country’s wildfires have become a worldwide concern, he says, “people like the Murdoch press have become ever more hysterical in trying to deny it.”

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