Yale Environment 360: The lucky country, as Australians call their homeland, sits on enormous deposits of natural resources: uranium, zinc, iron ore, lead, bauxite, copper, gold, manganese, and nickel. But among its greatest assets are the worlds fourth-largest coal reserves -- an estimated 76.4 billion tons, or 9 percent of global reserves.
Coal mining has powered the Australian economy for decades. In recent years, thanks to the seemingly insatiable energy appetite of China and other Asian countries, Australias...