Download a PDF version of this document: Futures of Victorian brown coal
Level 20, 1 Spring Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
The Commonwealth Government’s climate change agenda offers challenges and opportunities for the energy and earth resources sectors in Victoria.
Significant uncertainty exists over the medium and longer term, including how brown coal will fit into Victoria’s future energy mix, along with gas and renewable energy sources. Moving to a low emissions future involves significant challenges, particularly for brown coal.
This uncertainty, when considered alongside the size, scale, and long horizons for investment in the brown coal sector, has significant implications for the earth resources industry and associated communities, predominantly in the Gippsland region where Victoria’s electricity generators and vast brown coal resources are located.
For these reasons, the Earth Resources Development Council decided in late 2008 to sponsor a scenario development program to see how the future may emerge for the brown coal industry in Victoria over the next thirty years.
The aim of this program has been not to make predictions, but to explore possibilities by developing plausible alternative stories - or “scenarios” - about the development of the brown coal industry and technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
More than eighty participants came together throughout this program to share their insights and views. As a result, strategic conversations have now been held amongst a broad range of key stakeholders to explore the “what if” and “how” around the future of brown coal in Victoria.
The four scenarios presented in this report are the joint creation of those who took part in the program and go beyond the assumptions and perspectives of any individual, interest group or organisation, including the Earth Resources Development Council and the Victorian Government.
Jerry Ellis
Chair, Earth Resources Development Council
The Earth Resources Development Council
The Earth Resources Development Council
The Earth Resources Development Council was established in 2006 by the Victorian Government to provide it with strategic advice on how to create investment, employment and wealth from earth resources in regional Victoria, whilst also meeting environmental and safety requirements.
Your questions and views on the following are welcomed and should be directed to:
The Department of Primary Industries
1 Spring Street
MELBOURNE VIC 3000
Customer Service Centre
Phone: 136186
Table of Contents
IntroductionScenario one: Pathways Maze
Scenario two: Winds of Change
Scenario three: Powerhouse
Scenario four: Fuelling Growth
