The cost of coal use last year was EUR 360 billion, according to a new report, which accounts for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, health impacts and mining accidents in determining the ‘true’ price paid by global society for relying on the dirtiest of fossil fuels.
The report, "The True Cost of Coal," released by Greenpeace and the independent Dutch Institute CE Delft, arrived at this figure by looking the external costs of
coal in 2007 for damages attributable to climate change, human health
impacts from air pollution and fatalities due to major mining accidents–factors for which reasonably reliable global data is currently
available.
"The relentless expansion of the coal industry is the single greatest threat to averting dangerous climate change. Coal is the most climate-polluting fossil fuel, responsible for one third of all CO2 emissions, and is projected to increase to 60% of emissions by 2030," Joris Thijssen, climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace International, told a press conference. "Clearly, quitting coal will benefit not only the climate, but also reduce the other impacts which everybody else has to pay for."
The report was released as Industry Ministers from at least 20 big
emitting countries met in Warsaw with the world’s climate-polluting
industries.
Earlier in the day Greenpeace activists dumped lignite, dirty brown coal that makes up a large portion of Poland’s mining output, outside of the Warsaw Sheraton..
Greenpeace Poland campaign director Maciej Muskat said that Greenpeace strongly suspected the Polish Government had organised the meeting for the wrong reasons.
"The Polish people are already paying a high price for the cost of coal, through health impacts and the loss of lakes and ecosystems. Instead of concentrating on trying to shore up opposition against action on climate at both the Poznan meeting and the EU climate-energy package, the Polish government should implement its own renewable energy target and tap into the enormous potential of energy efficiency," he said.
The Warsaw meeting will probably talk about ‘clean coal’ technology that has the potential to sharply reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants. However, the Greenpeace report ‘False Hope’ shows that so-called Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a dangerous distraction. The technology is unproven, contains inherent risks and comes with an enormous price tag. Global greenhouse gas emissions need to start declining in the next seven years and CCS is in no position to play a role in making this happen.
The impacts of coal are not only related to climate change. Coal
also pollutes water resources, dirties the air and causes black lung
disease. The report contains ‘on the ground’ stories from 12 countries
that describe, for example, how human rights are violated in Colombia
while mining coal, how mountain tops are blown apart in the United
States and how coal use adds dramatically to air pollution in China.
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