Australian coal mining and economic diversification in the energy transition context

Abstract

Australia, with the third-largest coal reserves globally, is the fifth-largest producer and third-largest exporter of black coal, generating about half of its electricity from coal. Concerns about the loss of export earnings and jobs, energy security, and economic decline in coal-dependent regions are a critical challenge to Australia’s coal phase-out plans. Employing Q-methodology and semi-structured interviews, this paper examines how diverse stakeholders in Queensland, Australia, envision managing the coal phase-out and promoting economic diversification. The analysis reveals three distinct perspectives: ‘Maximise coal utilisation’, ‘Prioritise coal phase-out’, and ‘Diversify economy as coal phases out’. These perspectives underscore the importance of multi-stakeholder narratives to shaping systemic changes through transformative vision. The analysis takes a multi-stakeholder perspective framework as a narrative approach to ground-test the ‘just transition’ concept. In doing so, the paper demonstrates that justice, in terms of the economic diversification component of coal transition, entails considering implications on multiple economic sectors of coal regions as well as the interplay of actors, policies, and processes across multiple levels of public and private sectors.