Mining companies are campaigning for the G20 leaders’ meeting to support continued use of coal as a solution to the global “energy poverty” crisis, as Australia resists the inclusion of climate change on the formal agenda.
Peabody – the world’s largest private coal miner – has launched an online campaign titled the “Lights On” project to convince G20 leaders meeting in Brisbane next month that access to coal-fired power is crucial for “empowering” developing countries.
The G20 push, using social media and video, is part of an international campaign the company commissioned with PR firm Burson-Marsteller targeting China, America and Australia, called “Advanced Energy for Life”.
While the prime minister has resisted pressure from the United States and Europe for climate change to be included in the G20 agenda on the grounds that it does not fit the meeting’s economic focus, Peabody’s Australian president Charles Meintjes was invited to make a presentation to a workshop for the G20’s energy program in Brisbane in August.
