‘Overwhelming' economics favour accelerating shift from coal, reports say

Making the transition to a low-carbon economy has the potential to unlock $US26 trillion ($36 trillion) in benefits by 2030, while failure to act on climate change will trigger huge costs including a surge in refugees, a report co-authored by Britain's Lord Nicholas Stern has found.

Wind and solar energy prices are tumbling, making those
 energy sources cheaper than new-build coal plants, analysts say.

A separate report written partly by Canberra-based researchers argues global coal use has peaked and nations such as Australia must prepare for lower exports of the fuel. Local coal-fired power stations will also likely close earlier than forecast, it said.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Peter Hannam  -  “‘Overwhelming' economics favour accelerating shift from coal, reports say.”