The spot price for thermal coal has fallen 25 per cent per cent in the past month with one leading analyst saying it is because of a reduction in demand and a fundamental global shift to renewables.

Can we deal with a pandemic and global warming at once – both urgent, one an immediate hit, the other a decade-long burn? Well, yes, because – even with front pages dominated by COVID-19 – last month saw an astonishing concentration of decisions by international corporates to ditch carbon. And they slipped by, with the world looking the other way.

The US–China trade war and COVID-19 have massively impacted coal financing

Almost 60 per cent of the world's thermal coal and more than 30 per cent of Australian thermal coal is unprofitable at current prices, creating a horror backdrop for the long list of miners and ports seeking to refinance debt this winter.

"The Hunter region deserves a better strategy than just hoping that demand for coal will continue Indefinitely," Tony Wood, Grattan Institute 

The Berejiklian government is being urged by a lower house committee to report within months how the promotion of low-carbon technologies can help revive NSW's economy as well as reducing its dependence on coal.

The former Redbank coal plant in NSW’s Hunter Valley will be ­repurposed into a biomass fuels power station, with owner Hunter Energy planning to start supplying energy into the national electricity grid by early next year.

Bioenergy could be the Morrison government's next step in its emissions reduction strategy, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency calling for public submissions to develop an industry growth strategy.

University of New South Wales Professor Jeremy Moss has taken a close look at the conservative federal Liberal-National government’s fossil fuel subsidies in the climate of COVID-19.

Seoul is to set a 2050 net zero emissions goal and end coal financing, after the Democratic Party’s landslide victory in one of the world’s first Covid-19 elections

IEEFA update: Amid the global economic crisis, utility-scale wind and solar continue to be seen not just as a long-term investment but one for the near term as well. 

Daily Mercury, 6th March 2020 - REPORTS this week indicate that air pollution in China has declined to a record low. Far less coal, gas and oil is being burned after travel restrictions and factory shutdowns as a result of the coronavirus epidemic.

What is the future of Hunter mining and its 13,000 direct employee?

PORT of Newcastle's push to diversify from an over-reliance on thermal coal shows it "clearly sees the risk" and warning signs from Australia's biggest coal export destinations including Japan, said a leading energy finance analysis group.

Deep underground in Germany's Ruhr valley, Uwe Seeger plunges a drill into the black earth just as thousands of coal miners in this region have done before him.

IEEFA Update: Global capital flight from thermal coal and the coal-fired power sector is already at a canter in 2020.

BlackRock’s January announcement of its divestment from thermal coal is huge, and an unexpected move by this global giant (US$7 trillion assets under management (AuM), given the asset manager’s entrenchment as a climate action laggard.

Newcastle local and former NSW Nationals State Director Ross Cadell has joined Port of Newcastle at a critical time for the diversification of the Hunter economy and its international trade gateway. Mr Cadell begins as Special Projects Director on 3 February, leading the political and regional stakeholder engagement efforts as the Port works alongside all levels of government to advance key infrastructure projects that will future-proof the local, state and national economies.

Multimillionaire cosmetic surgeon and Australia’s largest private hotel owner Jerry Schwartz has embarked on a new project – a $10 million solar farm in the NSW Hunter Valley.