Is Australia the last country standing in defence of coal? | Bill McKibben

The OECD wants to phase out export credit agencies providing money for coal projects. Australia, almost alone, might stand in its way

Australia finds itself in a funny position headed for the Paris climate talks. It's one of the few nations on the planet desperately trying to stop the hands on the clock and keep the world as we know it chugging smokily along for a few more years.

Here's the backdrop: 303 years after Thomas Newcomen invented the first useful steam engine (which burned coal to pump water out of ... coal mines), the black rock on which we built our prosperity is clearly on the decline.