Australia to foot China's bill....

Article in News Ltd Papers Sunday 13/12/09
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/comments/0,23836,26476987-953,00.html

Ah hem, AID buys influence....
China has 'committed' to a 40% reduction of their projected emissions. The only serious option to do that is to use a mix of black coal and LNG. (Brown coal produces around 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per MWh and black about 0.9 tonnes of CO2 per MWh, LNG about 0.55 tonnes per MWh)
China has plenty of black and brown coal of their own, but not enough to met their needs, Australia is the only serious exporter of black coal. (and potentially LNG) There are plenty of exporters, such as Indonesia with lots of brown coal to export.

Once you make the technology decision to use black coal instead of brown, that choice is locked in for 30-50 years.

From an export perspective, Australia has a distinct advantage in a world trade environment that favours black coal and LNG over brown coal. A mild ETS will deliver technology decisions that lock in a competitive advantage to Australia for the next 30 years.

If the 'climate change' money given to China has the kicker of influencing the technology choice and fuel use, Australia stands to be a big export winner.
Question is, are the public happy to pay for the big profits for the likes of XStrata, BHP etc?