Australians Oppose New Coal, But Many Fall For Gas Spin

Recently released poll results indicate the majority of Australians are against new coal mines and the federal government providing subsidies for building new coal-fired power plants.

The Lowy Institute Climate Poll 2021 was conducted between 12 and 26 April 2021 with 3,286 Australian adults.

Among the key findings, 55% state the government’s main priority for energy policy should be reducing carbon emissions. Only 32% of those polled said ‘reducing household bills’ should be the government’s priority, and just 12% believe ‘reducing the risk of power blackouts’ should take centre-stage. But perhaps some folks in Queensland may have changed their mind on the latter after the Callide Power Station incident this week.

The important point is this doesn’t need to be an either/or situation – renewables such as wind and solar power win the trifecta – reducing carbon emissions, lowering the cost of electricity and improving energy security when backed by storage.

While it still seems a majority of Australians (67%) don’t want to see subsidies for new coal power, 91% said they would support the federal government ‘providing subsidies for the development of renewable energy technology’. That already exists in various forms, but it’s encouraging to see support remains very strong.

As well as majority support (63%) for a ban on new coal mines opening in Australia, 63% also said they support reducing Australian coal exports to other countries. Although Australian thermal coal exports dropped to a four-year low last year, we still managed to ship hundreds of millions of tonnes of the stuff, continuing our unfortunate distinction of being a Typhoid Mary of emissions.

On a related note, the Australian Federal Court ruled yesterday Environment Minister Sussan Ley has a legal duty of care to protect young people from climate change – and that has ramifications in terms of new coal mine approvals.

Gas Spin Succeeding?

The poll wasn’t all bad news for fossil fuels, which potentially means bad news for everything else on the planet. The Morrison Government’s banging on about a “gas-fired recovery” seems to have had some effect, with 58% in favour of Australia increasing the use of gas for energy generation.

It’s quite possible many Australians still aren’t aware that gas is not clean as some make it out to be. Claims of using it as a “bridging fuel” to a renewable energy future are pretty much a ruse given how fast renewables and supporting technologies have evolved, and distract from the intention to continue using gas in huge quantities long-term.

Instead of a gas-fired recovery, the UN has repeatedly pleaded for  a “green” recovery, free of fossil-fuel subsidies and other support.

Other Poll Findings

• On the issue of nuclear power, 47% support removing the existing ban, while 51% are opposed to that happening.
• On the topic of climate change action, 60% said Australia is doing too little and 64% support introducing an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax.
• 78% support setting a net-zero emissions target for 2050 instead of just wishy-washy in-principle support.
• 77% support government subsidies for electric vehicle purchases.
• 74% believe the benefits of taking further action on climate change will outweigh the costs.
• 60% consider global warming to be a serious and pressing problem.

The full Lowy Institute Climate Poll 2021 results and methodology can be viewed here.