Fossil Fuels and The Alps
Fossil Fuels and The Alps
What Are Fossil Fuels?
Fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas are burned for electricity, heat and transport. They release greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, that are driving climate change and heating the planet. Fossil fuels are the main cause of rising global temperatures and declining snowfall in the Australian Alps.
Australia’s Role – We aren’t too small to do something
Australia is a major fossil fuel exporter, even though we are a small country. We are the second largest exporter of fossil fuel emissions in the world, behind Russia.
- Around 70% of our coal and 80% of our gas is exported.1, 8, 11, 12, 24
- Australia makes up just 0.3% of the world’s population, but is responsible for around 5% of the world’s emissions, when you count the coal and gas we export that is burnt overseas.11, 12, 23, 28
- We use more than twice the amount of gas to process our gas for export than we use for peoples homes in Australia.6, 8, 24
- We have some of the highest per person emissions in the world, double that of China and nine times that of India.11, 12, 19
This means Australia has an outsized contribution to global climate pollution, and can have outsized contribution in fixing the problem.
Aren’t we phasing fossil fuels out already?
Australia has been increasing our renewable energy uptake (which is great!) — but renewables are being added on top of fossil fuels, not instead of them. We’re just exporting our coal and gas instead of burning them here.
- There are 42 new coal mining projects currently proposed for development in Australia. 7, 14, 19 And the Albanese government has approved 31 new fossil fuel projects since 2022.14, 16, 19
- This is all while demand for fossil fuels is projected to fall massively, with coal use to fall by 88% and gas by 44% by 2050.9, 11, 12
- And while climate impacts on our health, cost-of-living and environment continue to build.
- We don’t have any climate policy in Australia that reduces our biggest contribution to climate pollution, our exports.
We need to phase out fossil fuel exports, not just bring in renewables.
What’s The Harm Anyway?
The Alps
- Snow depth has already fallen by about 30% since the 1950s.25
- The ski season is now 17–28% shorter than it used to be.25
- On our current track by 2050, the season could shrink by 44–55 days, and by the 2080s, snow could be hard to find in Australia.25
- The Alps supply about 29% of the Murray–Darling Basin’s water, worth over $15 billion a year, and rainfall here is projected to drop 5–24% by 2050.25
- Alpine tourism is worth over $3.3 billion annually, supporting thousands of jobs and small businesses. Snowfall decline threatens local livelihoods and community identity.25
Cost of Living
- New electricity from fossil fuels is now more expensive than renewable energy.13, 26 Coal and gas outages and global price volatility of fossil fuels are the main drivers of our rising power bills.2, 10
—> Did you know: When Australia began exporting east-coast gas, domestic prices tripled, forcing Australians to pay global export prices for our own gas. - Higher energy costs have contributed to inflation which contributed to rising interest rates, meaning higher mortgage repayments for households.2, 10
- Unnatural climate-driven floods and bushfires are pushing insurance premiums to record levels, making some areas in Australia uninsurable.
—> Between 2022 and 2023, the average home insurance premium in Australia rose by 14%, the biggest rise in a decade.3 Major floods in eastern Australia pushed insured losses in 2022 to a record $7 billion, almost double previous records.3
Health
- Air pollution from burning fossil fuels causes hundreds of premature deaths and hospitalisations every year, and bushfire smoke causes widespread respiratory illness.1, 18, 30
- A 2023 study estimated that air pollution from the oil and gas industry caused 7,500 excess deaths and $77 billion in health care impacts in just a single year.
- An Australian study from 2025 found the approval of Scarborough Gas project in Western Australia by the end of its lifetime could account for around 484 extra heat-related deaths in Europe alone.27
- In Australia alone, coal contributes to hundreds of premature deaths a year, as well as asthma symptoms in thousands of children. It has been estimated to cost the taxpayer $2.4 billion in health expenses every year.18, 30
But don’t fossil fuels contribute a lot to the economy?
Fossil fuels contribute to our economy, but not as much as you think.
- Gas and coal extraction directly employs under 0.5% of Australia’s total workforce
—> Around 45,000 in coal (equivalent to the headcount of ANZ bank) and 22,000 in gas (less than the headcount of NAB).6, 20, 24 - National polling shows Australians think the oil and gas industry contributes 12% to Australia’s GDP, when the real number is actually 2.5%.6, 24
—> Similarly, at the Commonwealth level, total revenue was $520 billion in 2020-21, of which $16 billion, or 3%, came from Petroleum Resource Rent Tax and company tax paid by the fossil fuel industry.6, 24 - This is all while the Australian government subsidises the fossil fuel to tens of billions a year, around $15 billion in 2024-2025.2, 4, 24
- Many fossil fuel companies, especially multinational companies, pay little to no tax in Australia while earning billions of dollars off our resources.6, 15, 17, 23, 24
—> Exxon recorded a $56 billion global profit yet paid $0 in tax in Australia in 2023.22
What is a royalty?
The public owns the resources under the ground. Royalties are the fees mining companies pay for the right to use and sell our resources. However, many multinational exporters pay no royalties, and minimal tax. In the past four years, $149 billion worth of liquified natural gas was exported from Australia royalty-free.5, 8, 29
A Better Future Is Possible
We can replace our fossil fuel exports. Australia can become a clean-exports powerhouse19, 21, 26 by producing and exporting:
- Green iron
- Green hydrogen
- Renewable-powered aluminium
- Renewable electricity
We have:
- World-class wind and solar resources
- Existing export infrastructure
- Skilled industrial workforces
If we shift our exports from fossil fuels to clean energy products, Australia could help reduce up to 10% of global emissions while strengthening regional economies and Protecting Our Winters.26
We can’t Protect Our Alpine Future while expanding coal & gas.
Protect Our Alpine Future
Protect Our Alpine Future is a grassroots campaign to establish a clear link between the burning of coal and gas and the changes we are seeing in alpine regions. This campaign is a collective call for action to secure a safe alpine future for our mountains and communities through organised, visible pressure for change.
We need the mountains, and the mountains need our help.
It’s time to take back our alpine future.