Be Green: Buy an (Australian) Coal Mine!

In Be Green: Buy A Coal Mine! I wrote:

Buying a coal mine and leaving the coal in the ground looks like a cost-effective way of sequestering carbon dioxide.

Recall, the key idea is that there are coal mines that are barely profitable now so shuttering mines can be a cheap way of sequestering carbon dioxide. Well, it’s starting to happen in Australia.

Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has teamed up with international fund manager Brookfield to launch an audacious takeover bid for Australian energy giant AGL with the intention of setting stronger emissions-reduction targets and forcing the early closures of its remaining coal-fired power stations.

Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, is also involved. Unclear whether the bid will be accepted. The Australian government is actually against the idea.

Addendum: Philosopher William MacAskill also told me recently that he liked the idea because it would leave a source of energy that could be used to reboot civilization after an existential crisis. Hadn’t thought about that! MacAskill is always thinking ahead.

Hat tip: Sam Roggeveen.