Coal doesn’t help the poor; it makes them poorer

(“Coal is good for humanity” was the claim of Australia’s former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. Such an assertion would have found little resistance before the realities of climate change were understood, but to say that anytime within the last decade would have brought serious rebuke. Conformation of the contrary to what Mr Abbott argued appears in a new report compiled by international and development groups – Robert McLean.)

A dozen international poverty and development organizations published a report last week on the impact of building new coal power plants in countries where a large percentage of the population lacks access to electricity. The report’s conclusions are strikingly counter-intuitive: on the whole, building coal power plants does little to help the poor, and often it can actually make them poorer.

Delivering electricity to those in energy poverty is certainly important. For example, household air pollution killed 4.3 million people globally in 2012; many of those lives could be saved and health improved with the use of electric stoves to replace burning wood or charcoal. However, the question remains whether coal is the best way to deliver that electricity.

Read the story The Guardian - “Coal doesn’t help the poor; it makes them poorer.”