Australia Forced To Toughen Climate Language; Abbott Pimps "Farcical" Coal Development Plan

World leaders have forced Australia to include stronger language on climate change in the G20 communique, but Tony Abbott told the summit that as the leader of a major coal producer he would be “standing up for coal”.

The references demanded by other leaders, including the US president, Barack Obama, were reluctantly accepted by Australia at the last minute. They included a call for contributions to the international green climate fund that the prime minister has previously derided and for the “phasing out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”. A European Union spokesman reportedly described the climate negotiations with Australia as being like “trench warfare”. Other officials said it had been “very difficult” and protracted.

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The Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin is the one of the largest thermal coal mines in the world, and the largest in Australia. It requires a 388km rail line to a new terminal at Abbot Point. But the project has been under pressure as coal prices fall to five-year lows.

Adani told the Indian Express a South Korean firm, Posco, had been given the contract to build the railway line and sources suggested the Newman government might be preparing to underwrite the project. The director of energy finance studies for the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Tim Buckley, said the Newman government’s plans were “absolutely farcical”. “I have not spoken to a single person in finance who thinks this can proceed or that it is commercially viable. Eight major international banks have said they won’t go near it,” he said.

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/16/g20-leaders-australia-back-down-climate-change-language