With our correspondent in Sydney, Gregory Place
The closure of Liddell Power Station is the beginning of the end for coal’s unbridled power in Australia. In the aftermath, the country’s largest power plant, Eraring, which alone generates 3% of Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions, is scheduled to shut down in 2025, seven years ahead of schedule. Six more coal-fired power plants will close by 2035, driven by declining profitability and the government’s desire to make Australia more sustainable. A superpower in the field of renewable energy ».
Care about jobs
However, the sector, though booming, will not be able to fill the void left by the exit of coal according to Sue Moore. She is the mayor of Singleton, the town next door to Liddell power station.
« The renewable energy sector will create jobs during the construction phase but in the long run, there will be very few once these projects are in operation. So we will have fewer jobs but also lower paying jobs than those that can currently be found in the mines. »
These mining jobs are not currently threatened. The Labor government, despite pressing recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, is not against opening new coal mines, or even exploiting them after 2050.
Also read: Australia: A “carbon tax” on the biggest polluters will come into effect soon
