News Hit

The current political propensity towards sustainable development has seen the acceptance of climate change and global warming as a tangible threat; a ramification of the gratuitous levels of greenhouse gas emissions, this shift in the social and political agenda has relegated capitalist proclivity to that of purely corporate interests.

The social and political spheres prioritise sustainable development. This is especially true in the case of the Australian fossil fuels industry, whereby the focus on clean and environmentally responsible methods of resource extraction and power generation has caused much controversy (Dovers 1995; Crowley & Walker 1999). Australia has taken steps to alleviate greenhouse gas emissions and to develop clean technology; however, the threat of climate change is not impending enough to prompt drastic action (Manne & Richels 2001).

The objective of this essay is to explore the affects of sustainable development on the Australian fossil fuel industry and the ramifications, of both checked and unchecked global warming, on the Australian fossil fuel industry.

Projected global warming in Australia has affected the fossil fuel industry in that Australia is now compelled to utilise and further develop cleaner coal mining and extraction technologies (Thomas 2007). With Australia being the largest mineral and fossil fuel exporter in the world, fears of global warming will create greater disposition towards ‘greener’ technologies, thus threatening the expedience of Australian energy production, mining, and adversely affecting Australian export revenue (Christoff 2006). Sustainable development applied to the fossil fuels industry will affect projected warming, but to what extent?

Sustainable development in this sector would diminish projected warming, through the alleviation of greenhouse gas emissions and other atmospherically negligent practices. Sustainable development in this sector is a paramount issue that, mitigated sufficiently, will provide desirable effects, from diminishing levels of projected warming, to displacing fossil fuel industries and replacing them with renewable fuel and energy industries (Thomas 2007). The occurrence of such mitigating steps would thus be diminishing the affects of global warming: droughts, forest fires, heat waves and rising water levels (Thomas 2007).

However the steps taken by Australia at this stage are not entirely sustainability focused; Australia is still approximately 95% reliant on fossil fuels and utilises only 5% in renewable energy sources. This is indicative of the influence and vested interests of the fossil fuel export, mining, and energy industries, which are in conflict with the environmental and sustainability agenda (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006; Love 2008).

As such, current levels of sustainable development in Australia with regard to fossil fuels will, critically, exacerbate and even increase the affects of warming. How will the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, as outlined above, affect the fossil fuels industry in Australia?

The mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia would be calamitous for the fossil fuels industry, by which the steps taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would herald the displacement and eventual ruin of fossil fuel and non-renewable industries (Christoff 2006). Due to their very nature, fossil fuels are inherently non-renewable, and their use would become both outmoded and redundant.

At the very least, the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions would ensure a cleaner and more extensive process was utilised in the extraction, refining, consumption and exporting of fossil fuels. The export revenue garnered from fossil fuel and mineral resources would no longer be lucrative for the Australian economy (Christoff P). Mining practises, in this instance, would prioritise clean technology and practise with extensive refining and waste management that would drain resources until the extraction process was no longer profitable .

Fossil fuel industries themselves would be permanently terminated with their export potential completely disappearing; this is especially true if sustainable development is implemented globally and in conjunction with efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as export targets will then disappear (Dovers 1995).

The fossil fuels industry in Australia, from the mining and extraction process, to refining, consuming and exporting will have to be replaced with a renewable industry in order to sufficiently implement the sustainable development agenda. Such a move would alter the demographics of energy generation and compel the Australian government to seek other lucrative ventures. Additionally the cost for such changes would be greatly detrimental to the Australian economy, with an ostensible industry obliged to change its practises until the rationale for its inception becomes archaic.

The implementation of sustainable development would thus be ruinous to part of the Australian economy, yet such changes and short term detriments are crucial to the long term interests of the state.

REFERENCES:

Australian Bureau of Statistics, http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/A058318E0019F605CA256BDC00122412?opendocumentlast updated 20/01/2006, last accessed on 04/08/09

Christoff P, ‘Post-Kyoto? Post-Bush? Towards an effective climate coalition of the willing’, International Affairs 82: 5, Blackwell Publishing Ltd/The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2006, Pp. 831–860

Crowe B, ‘The Tragedy of The Commons Revisited’, in Hardin, G., & Baden, J., Managing The Commons, W. H. Freeman and Company, 1997, Pp. 53-64

Crowley K & Walker KJ, Australian Environmental Policy 2: Studies in Decline + Devolution, 1999, Pp. 60-79, 151

Dovers S, 1995, “Information, Sustainability and Policy”, Australian Journal of Environmental Management, Vol 2, pp. 142-146

Hardin G, ‘The Tragedy of The Commons’, in Hardin, G., & Baden, J., Managing The Commons, W. H. Freeman and Company, 1997, Pp. 16-30

Hardin G & John L, Managing The Commons, W. H. Freeman and Company, (preface) ‘The Evolution of Cultural Norms’, 1997, Pp. ix-xii

Manne A & Richels RG, US Rejection of the Kyoto Protocol: The Impact Compliance Costs and Co2 Emissions’, September 2001, pp. 1-12, in Jakeman et al, Kyoto Protocol, The first commitment period and beyond, 2001 Pp. 176-197

Stern N, ‘Part IV International Collective Action’, The Stern Rerview: The Economic of Climate Change, 2006, in INT2910/3910 Poverty, Ecology and International Justice Handbook, Monash University Arts Faculty, 2008, Pp. 103-119

Thomas I, Environmental Policy: Australian Practice in the Context of Theory, The Federation Press, New South Wales, 2007 Pp. 48-49, 197-198, 410-432