Energy | Father James Grant
The Australian 10th July, 2015

The choice of Naomi Klein to lead a high-level Vatican conference on the environment shows Pope Francis is not shying away from the criticism levelled at him over his climate-change encyclical. If anything, he is becoming more extreme in his stance on the direction in which the world is heading.

Francis is very concerned with the wellbeing of the world’s poor. This should be at the forefront of the minds of all Christians, driven by a moral imperative coming directly from the mouth of Jesus: “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.”

While all Christians will assent to such a view, practical responses are often little above the levels of a Miss Universe contestant and usually end with “the government should do something about it”.

It is time for Australian Christians to take a hard moral and theological look at their responses to world poverty, focus on the truth of the world’s situation, and support viable and practical outcomes, not wish lists with zero real­istic possibilities.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than three billion people still cook and heat their homes by burning wood and dung, and more than 1.2 billion people have no access to electricity. The uncomfortable truth is that demand for electricity in the developing world will increase dramatically as movements of rural residents to cities continue apace. The UN estimates urban populations will increase from 3.9 billion last year to 6.4 billion by 2050. India is expected to acquire an extra 404 million, China 292 million and the African continent more than 800 million by 2050. For India, that means an extra 1281 people moving to cities each hour.

So, here is another hard truth: the cheapest and most reliable form of electricity comes from coal generation. Coal has played a key role in reducing the number of people in poverty and improved other quality-of-life indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality, literacy and employment opportunities.

The International Energy Agency notes that world demand for electricity doubled in the past 25 years and the global consumption of coal from 2000 to last year increased from 2369 million tonnes of oil equivalent to 3881Mtoe. This was significantly greater than all forms of renewable energy.

About 830 million people throughout the world gained electricity for the first time between 1990 and 2010, almost exclusively through coal-fired generation.

There is no escaping the impact this has had on the world’s poor: the safe storage of food and medicine, clean drinking water, the ability to heat and cool homes, improved transportation and the development of business and employment opportunities.

Two hundred years after the Industrial Revolution, coal still accounts for 40 per cent of global power generation, with new coal-fired capacity added every year.

Many Christians nonetheless oppose coal-fired electricity, with some supporting radical climate-change activism under programs that pressure companies to drop so-called “immoral investments”.

The Australian Greens have called for a $2 a tonne levy on coal exports, an end to all Australian coal exports by 2020 and a ban on new coalmines as well as on all fossil fuel exploration.

The immorality of such a position for the world’s poor cannot be understated. Christianity has a strong focus on challenging individuals to support the common good. The practical reality of faith in Jesus should always be driven by humility, generosity and a wider community focus beyond ourselves.

Nevertheless, Australia must be careful of attachments to those who suggest developing nations cannot also enjoy the standards of living most Westerners experience, particularly those who advocate population control. In the past China and India have advocated such solutions. Thankfully, both nations have abandoned such nihilistic thinking.

In the next few years, Australia and India will develop closer economic and cultural ties. The number of Indians studying in Australia attests to this. The basis of such a relationship must be focused on several agreed principles. India has the right to enjoy an electricity system that is reliable and cost-efficient.

To deny other countries the privileges we enjoy really is a moral and theological minefield.