Representatives of coal miners in Indonesia and Australia, the world's two largest exporters of thermal coal, were ebullient at the Coaltrans event, but also cautious that the current windfall is unlikely to last beyond 2023 or 2024. In theory both of these solutions do offer some hope for coal miners, but then the main problem comes in. For higher energy Australian thermal coal the cost of the offsets is even less, given its current high price, coming in at just over 2%. Also, as coal miners, and other polluters, compete for offsets, the price will invariably rise, thereby adding to the cost. For exporting coal miners, there is probably a narrow path to remaining in business for the long term.

---