ACROSS the Upper Hunter, there's an understandable air of uncertainty about the impact of net zero policies on a region that plays a major role in Australia's coal industry.
And this uncertainty comes across clearly from those who spoke to the Newcastle Herald's Matthew Kelly for his piece on the "net zero" outlook today.
After decades of dominance, coal is on the wrong side of a global revolution in energy generation.
The farther the world progresses in its pursuit of non-polluting generation technologies, the greater the pressure will be on an industry that has so far borne the brunt of the climate change blame.
But even on the fastest paths to net zero, thermal coal for electricity and coking coal for steelmaking will still be major industries for decades to come.
The major points should now be well-known to all.
Even conservative governments, such as the federal Coalition, say they accept a need to decarbonise the economy.
Younger generations are heavily in favour of this push, and big business and banking are also largely on board.
On the other hand, many industrialists point to limits on the generation methods as they stand, meaning that much of the work to achieve global "net zero emissions" will have to come from technology that is either yet to be fully commercialised, or perhaps even not even on the drawing board.
Right now, we are already able to generate vast amounts of power from renewables.
But wind, solar and even hydro remain inherently intermittent.
Until the storage problem is solved, we will remain dependent on fossil fuels, primarily coal and gas, to provide baseload or "firming" power.
Because 90 per cent of Australia's coal is exported, the fate of the Hunter industry lies with its customer nations overseas.
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This has always been the case.
Now, as Japan and the other Asian nations that buy most of our resources move along their own net zero paths, we will have to react, as we have before, to their needs.
New technologies always threaten existing industries.
Donkey breeders no doubt resented the steam engine.
But new industries create new jobs, and often more of them.
Newcastle has grown socially and economically in the 20 years since the closure of the steelworks.
Yes, coal plays a greater role in the Hunter Valley than steel did in Newcastle, but the example shows we can be justifiably optimistic about a post-coal future, regardless of personal opinions about climate change and the net zero push.
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