Thread by @simonahac

.@parnellpalme's column today warrants some comment in reply.

firstly, the trope that there aren't many direct jobs in renewables once the construction crew has left town…

read on for why this is a misconception…

smh.com.au/national/when-…

the example given by @senbmckenzie is the moree solar farm, which apparently only has 5 direct employees.

that's very few, but it's a small facility… it only generates ~0.15 TWh/yr, or 33 employees/annual-TWh.

kogan creek coal power station has 111 direct employees and generates ~5.2 TWh/yr, or 21.3 employees/annual-TWh.

(older coal power stations are much less efficient. eg. yallourn in victoria has 500 employees for 8.9 TWh last year = 56 employees/TWh.)

there are *already* almost as many jobs in RE (mostly construction) as there are in coal.

…but within 3 years there'll be more direct, *ongoing* jobs in RE than coal *power*.

more detail here:

https://twitter.com/simonahac/status/1395982587651248134?s=20

.@senbmckenzie and parnell make the (very common) mistake of thinking australia's coal mining jobs are threatened by australia's renewable industry.

very few coal *miners* are employed in our power sector.

australia actually has relatively few coal miners overall… around 40k-50k, almost *none* of whom will be affected by australia's carbon policy.

~1/2 our coal miners (mostly in QLD) dig up metallurgical coal. those jobs will be pretty safe through this decade & much of the next.

most of the rest (concentrated in NSW) dig up thermal coal.

their jobs are at the mercy of our coal customers… mainly japan, china, south korea and taiwan.

~3/4 of that demand is subject to net-zero policies, but not *our* net-zero policies.

australian politicians don't get to decide when those jobs dry up… most of those jobs exist at the pleasure of customers in tokyo, beijing, seoul and taipei.

japan's plans are very accessible:

https://twitter.com/simonahac/status/1418133436166934529?s=20

[yes, by all means let's look after the coal miners who lose their jobs over the next 10-20 years… let's look after them a *lot* better than the 40,000 higher education workers (with fewer transferable skills) thrown on the job scrap heap last year — no #jobkeeper for them!]

parnell's piece includes @DanielWildIPA's bizarre statement "RE sector does not provide a realistic alternative to jobs in ag, mining & manufacturing sectors which would be put at risk by a net-zero target".

the *vast* majority of those jobs aren't threatened by net-zero policy!

…the few jobs that are lost due to net-zero will be easily replaced by the massive increase in jobs created in the process of transitioning our economy.

…many, but far from all, of the new jobs will be in the renewable sector.

[just as netflix doesn't owe former blockbuster employees a job, the renewable energy industry doesn't owe former coal miners a job.

but luckily for coal miners, they have transferable skills and a political system that treats them as an endangered species. they'll be fine.]

the idea that net-zero threatens the resource sector or regional australia is deeply misguided.

australia is blessed with the critical minerals that play such an important role in global efforts to decarbonise.

1/2 the world's lithium (powering the EV revolution) is mined here🇦🇺. we are blessed with nickel, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore & rare-earth metals.

we're have a growing RE and a nascent H₂ sector.

these industries will all ramp up as the coal sector winds down.

the article then digresses into a clumsy discussion on the electricity "dilemma" — the challenge of obtaining affordable, reliable and low emissions technology.

this conversation is so 2017… our energy market operator knows well how to solve it: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

…and if the folks responsible for reliable & affordable energy aren't enough for you, the @CSIRO and our largest transmission company @Transgrid_AU have come to the same conclusion:

reneweconomy.com.au/unstoppable-tr…

the best observation in the piece is that just because @ScottMorrisonMP and #NewsCorp now accept that net-zero is inevitable, it doesn't mean "job's done".

there are still decades of details to work through.

…but handwringing over false tropes is unproductive.