Who we are...
The Australian Coal Association (ACA) is an industry body whose member companies are the black coal producers in Australia. ACA member companies operate predominantly in New South Wales and Queensland, the States that produce around 97 per cent of Australia's black coal. The ACA also has members in Western Australia and Tasmania.
Mining of black coal is one of Australia's most important industries with black coal providing almost 60 per cent of Australia's grid-connected electricity (brown coal adds around 24% ) and is vital for major industries such as steel making and cement manufacture.
The industry is also a major national employer with around 37,000 people employed directly as at June 2009 and a further 100,000 indirectly. Significantly, the industry operates mines in regional Australia and its presence underpins the economies and the physical and social infrastructure in many regional towns and communities.
Australia has around 100 years of demonstrated black coal resources and is the world's largest coal exporter. Black coal is also Australia's largest commodity export, worth more than $A50 billion for the financial year ending June 2009.
What we do...
The ACA, located in the nation’s capital of Canberra, primarily performs an advocacy role at the national level for the black coal industry, with a focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility. In this context the most important issues dealt with in recent years relate to climate change and, more specifically, the issue of greenhouse gas emissions from the mining and use of coal.
The Australian coal industry has long accepted the science of climate change and it acknowledges the role that reducing emissions from coal-fuelled power can play in addressing climate change globally. It is investing substantially in viable solutions to this problem, specifically in the field of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The deployment of CCS technologies is regarded as by far the most effective means of cutting emissions from coal, lignite, gas, diesel and other fossil-fuel based power generation and other industrial processes, such as iron and steel, cement, and metal manufacturing.
For further information on what the ACA is doing in relation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the mining and use of coal see COAL21 and Other Initiatives on this site, as well as the ACA's NewGenCoal website.