The purpose of this report is to identify for the first time the scale of Australian companies’ coal interests in Africa and the potential carbon liability this represents, and to examine some of the potential climate impacts and implications for women’s rights and sustainable development across the continent.
It also points to an alternative vision of sustainable development that has been developed by women’s organisations in Africa, and makes recommendations to the Australian Government and policy-makers.
Download the report:
Fuelling injustice: Women’s rights and Australian coal mining in Africa
The report concludes with an Appendix that explains the methodology used for assessing the coal reserves and carbon liability of the coal projects identified.
Key Findings:
- These projects are heavily concentrated in South Africa, with a small number in Botswana and Tanzania.
- The vast majority of these projects are proposed mines that would open up new reserves of coal for coalfired electricity generation.
- Australian companies’ coal projects in Africa contain 34 billion tonnes of coal, more than three times Adani’s Carmichael mine.
- This represents up to an estimated 45 billion tonnes of potential carbon emissions.
- Given the need to rapidly decarbonise the global economy to have any chance of avoiding the most dangerous levels of climate change, there is no room of any new coal mines within our very limited global carbon budget, therefore it is imperative that this coal stays in the ground.