Ads claim coal industry doing a lot to reduce emissions

The coal industry has launched a public campaign of full page ads that will appear in newspapers claiming the industry is doing 'a lot' to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The ads are partly aimed at winning support for government subsidies, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to develop 'clean coal' technology which the Australian Coal Industry (ACA) says will work.

Conservationists say the coal industry is highly profitable and should pay to clean itself up. But the ACA says it's a good use of public funds.

"It's in the national interest to develop these technologies to maintain the viability of our coal industry," ACA executive director Ralph Hillman said.

Hillman gave an upbeat assessment of the development of clean coal — also called Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) — capturing the carbon emissions from power stations and burying them underground.

Clean coal is not yet commercially operating and some green groups warn it will not work.

Hillman expected plants would be operating by 2017, but said it would be very expensive to build them and governments would have to help pay.

Hillman said the coal industry spent an average of $100 million a year on clean coal, which was about one-third of the total. Federal and state governments paid the other two-thirds.

Coal exports were worth $24 billion last financial year.

Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne said the coal industry's attempt to rebrand itself as environmentally friendly would fail.

Milne called on the industry to spend its money branching into renewable energy, instead of on advertising.

Hillman was optimistic about the impact of the global financial crisis on coal exports. Exports were predicted to continue growing due to demand from China and India, and to supply problems in some exporting nations, he said.

But the coal price could be kept relatively low during the next few years, along with other commodity prices, due to the slow-down.