Governments must proactively prepare workers and communities as part of a ‘just transition’ in response to an inevitable phase out of coal mines and power stations, leading energy and climate policy experts have warned.

Coal will need to be phased out of the world's economy to meet the climate change challenge, but this can work properly only if social objectives and local stakeholders are involved in the process, an international group of researchers argue in a paper published today.

A striking development has occurred in the world of corporate finance. The past few months have seen a string of corporations divest from thermal coal...

Hunter Valley councils and unions are preparing for a future without coal but say curbs on the Port of Newcastle imposed after the privatisation of ports near Sydney and Wollongong will hold back the transition.

Australia's second-largest superannuation fund is preparing to dump its shares in companies that derive more than 10 per cent of their revenue from thermal coal mining as it embarks on the most aggressive immediate climate push of any large local investor.

The Hunter chapter evocatively captures the strengths, beauty and history our remarkable region and draws on these to paint a picture of the future that is dramatically different from our present, but seems very near and very possible. 

Industry superannuation fund HESTA will divest pure play thermal coal miners immediately, reduce its emissions footprint by 33 per cent over the next decade, and dump all carbon-emitting companies by 2050.

THE state government's new coalmining policy says there is no point in reducing coal exports for environmental reasons, and it opens up eight substantial areas for exploration in the Hunter and adjacent areas, including 178 square kilometres of state forest between historic Wollombi and Broke.

AT first glance, the state government's new "strategic statement on coal exploration and mining in NSW" looks like an attempt to navigate a middle course between the extremes of the energy debate, and to recognise the realities of the Paris Agreement.

The lobby group representing Australia’s largest resources companies will commit to “decarbon­ising” the economy as it stares down pressure from its members to take more action on climate change.

A NEW study claims thermal coal production can be phased out over the next decade with minimal distribution to workers and regional communities.

About 50,000 sustainable jobs could be created in the Hunter Region over the next five years as a result of a rapid expansion of renewable energy-based projects and zero-emissions industries, a new analysis has found.

IEEFA: Fiduciary duty is driving financial change. A striking development has occurred in the world of corporate finance. The past few months have seen a string of corporations divest from thermal coal, starting with US investment giant BlackRock and extending to Japan’s Mizuho and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund.  

This is exciting news for the Hunter!

The Hunter Joint Organisation, with project partner AGL, is moving ahead with plans to form The Hunter 2050 Foundation, and organisation dedicated to guiding the economic diversification and transformation of the Hunter Valley.  

OFFICIAL MEDIA RELEASE - 28 MAY 2020 - Hunter Joint Organisation (HJO), with funding support from the NSW State Government, are rethinking waste and resource recovery in a bid to help transition the Hunter Central Coast region to a circular economy.

Push for high energy users to source electricity from renewable sources: A new research project aims to identify opportunities for the Hunter to transform into a diverse renewable energy-based economy.

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.

The Hunter Region is fast becoming a powerhouse for large-scale renewable energy projects that will help drive the region's transition from coal to a low-carbon economy.

What will the Mudgee region do after mining?

The strongest arguments posed by those who want a continuation of coal mining and coal fired power stations in the Hunter are where will the existing workforce in these two industries find such well paid jobs and what will be the economic driver of the region if not thermal coal?

THE Federal and NSW governments are under pressure over the lack of planning for the Hunter region's transition from coal after submissions from councils, trade unions, environment groups, Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper and the Port of Newcastle calling for government action.

HUNTER coal mines are competing in an "oversupplied" global market that will see Australia's thermal coal export earnings slump from $26 billion in 2018-19 to a projected $18 billion by 2020-21, says a two-year forecast by the Federal Government's Office of the Chief Economist.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor's Liddell taskforce told Singleton 'comfortable' with Liddell closure plans.

LACK of government leadership is the biggest issue facing the Hunter in the lead-up to the closure of Liddell power station and as the region transitions away from coal, Hunter councils have told a federal/state Liddell taskforce.

FEDERAL Energy Minister Angus Taylor's announcement of a federal/state taskforce to look at the implications of the Liddell coal-fired power station closure in April, 2023 was panned by critics as a guise for propping up coal.

STUDENTS from across Australia have written to Hunter coal workers on the eve of a climate action strike in Newcastle today, after Wednesday's landmark rejection of the Bylong coal mine because of "intergenerational inequity".

Looking at the price graph for thermal coal shows how quickly the industry can go from boom to bust - like any commodity traded across the world.

The NSW inquiry into the sustainability of energy supply and resources is an opportunity to give the people of the Hunter a seat at the table in diversifying and preparing our region for changes in energy and export markets. Make sure you grab your chance to have your say by making a submission by 15 September