Even as the American media were busy covering the news about Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren’s endorsement of fossil fuel phaseout, other countries across the Pacific embraced fossil fuels in an unprecedented manner.

In a big move, Australia’s Queensland province has given the green light to the Adani group’s billion-dollar Carmichael coal mine project.

The Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Science sent the official communique detailing the final environmental clearance to the Adani group on 13 June.

This is huge news for the energy security of the country as the coal mine—the largest in Australia and that took nine years of planning—has the production capacity of 60 million tonnes per year and a lifetime production capacity of 2.3 billion tonnes.

The project had faced strong opposition from anti-coal activists and climate alarmists. Fossil fuel use (along with climate change) was a major factor in determining the recently concluded Australian national election. The people of Australia chose to re-elect the ruling government for its pro-fossil fuel stance, stunning the left-wing media and anti-coal establishment.

The fossil fuel-favorable election results, followed by the approval of the biggest coal mine, have taken the environmental radicals by surprise.

The mythical fossil fuel-free world that the radical environmentalists desire is nothing more than fantasy. 

Ever since the adoption of the Paris agreement—of which Australia is a part—the United Nations and a host of political leaders have been advocating for the phase-out of fossil fuels.

They came to a rude awakening during the 2018 climate talks in Poland, when Australia reaffirmed its unwavering support for coal by participating in the U.S. government’s fossil fuel promotional event.

Australia’s pro coal stance was reflected in trade, too. Coal was its top earning export in 2017-18, and the country made a record AUD $61 billion just by selling coal to the Asian market.

However, Australia was not the only country to shock the climate crowd  in 2018.

Elections in Brazil saw the pro-fossil fuel candidate Jair Bolsonaro become the new President. Besides pledging to promote fossil fuels, Bolsonaro withdrew Brazil from hosting both the 2019 UN climate conference and 2019 Latin American climate conference.

In the U.S., the boom in the natural gas market led to an energy revolution. With almost no opposition, both the natural gas industry and the coal sector thrived immensely. The International Energy Agency forecasts that the U.S. will continue to extract and use coal at very high levels for the next two decades. 

Over in the East, reports from China emerged showing that the country has actually been increasing its construction of coal-fired power plants and not honoring its commitment to the Paris agreement.

In even worse news for those who insist on cutting carbon dioxide emissions, the country’s signature Belt and Road Initiative is being used as a proxy to invest in coal technology across the world. Beijing has pledged a whopping U.S. $35.9 billion for the development of coal power plants in 27 countries.

Japan, too, has been highly reliant on coal for its electricity needs and is investing in clean coal technology across Asia. Russia, just like China, has been improving its coal export infrastructure despite pledging allegiance to fossil fuel phaseout at Paris. 

With no signs of slowdown, the growing fossil fuel industry has applied the brakes to the plans of radical environmentalists.

But it means good news for the majority of the world’s population who live in developing countries, where most industries and homes are powered by fossil fuels and a strong international coal market gives them the best shot at overcoming poverty.