Australia | Health Experts Call For a Ban on New Coal

2015.02.23_CAHA_Hunter (3)A comprehensive report released this week by Healthy Energy Initiative’s Australia partner, the Climate and Health Alliance, a coalition of 28 key health organisations, highlights the serious threats to human health from the rapid expansion of the Hunter Valley coal industry, calculates the burden of this health damage to the economy and, significantly, calls for a ban on new coal projects in the region and an orderly transition away from coal.

Download the report, “Coal and Health in the Hunter: Lessons from one valley for the world,” sign on to the open letter demanding the phasing out of coal in the Hunter, and find other opportunities to take action at www.caha.org.au.

The report includes economic estimates of health damages from fine particles from coal sources in the region, which total to $65.3 million. In addition, the social costs of carbon (climate damages) attributable to Hunter Valley coal are estimated at between $16-66 billion per annum currently, which would increase if production increases.

High profile figures including former Australians of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley and Professor Tim Flannery and former NASA scientist James Hansen, and 23 other academics and public health experts, have signed an open letter to the New South Wales Premier demanding the phasing out of coal production in the Hunter.

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