The new TV advertisement of the Minerals Council of Australia that explains the “endless possibilities” of coal in providing “light and jobs” has been labelled “ludicrous” and “desperate” by environmental groups. The groups also criticised the campaign’s claim that the new coal technology will drastically reduce the emissions by up to 40 percent in the country.

Australia’s mining industry has launched the new campaign, called Little Black Rock, which highlights the “indispensable role” played by Australia’s coal industry in providing cheap electricity, steel and jobs. The council said it is committed to provide “informative and rational discussion” about coal, in which the campaign will also appear in newspaper and radio ads.

But the ad has been criticised as an attempt to reinforce coal against the falling cost of renewable energy alternatives and emerging international action to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The Minerals Council directly responded that the ad was not in line with the environmentalists who are trying to stop huge new mines in Queensland and New South Wales.

“It’s fair to say there are a few misconceptions out there the industry wants to tackle. This is aimed at the general public but we obviously want the politicians to take notice of it,” a spokesperson for the Minerals Council said in a report from the Guardian.

The campaign also claims that the emissions are now being curbed by the low-emission coal-fired power plants and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. But the only CCS project in Australia is yet planned to be operational by 2020s, and Canada is the only country with a CCS-enabled plant operational in the world.

The CCS has been advised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to be applied to all remaining coal power worldwide by 2100 to avoid more impacts from climate change. The Australian government has already cut half a billion dollars from research into CCS technology, but there are still no firm plans for CCS-enabled replacements for Australia’s ageing coal-fired plants.

“This is a ludicrous ad. Coal is a dangerous little black rock. Every climate scientist and almost every politician in the world knows that coal is very polluting and very dangerous,” said Kelly O’Shanassy, chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation. “The only people who don’t get that are the Minerals Council and our government.”

The mining industry has recently been struggling with a low coal price and with the increasing pressure from climate activists. The Newcastle city council that holds the world’s largest coal port is also deciding to drop its fossil fuel investments.

Majority of the electricity producers in Australia relies on brown and black coal. But a major analysis by the University College London in January suggests that to avoid drastic climate change, 82 percent of coal must remain unburned.

However, Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists that coal is “good for humanity,” which provides jobs in Australia and energy supplies overseas. According to the Minerals Council, about 150,000 direct and indirect jobs in Australia are dependent on coal, but it was opposed by the Australia Institute.

“This desperate ad is a figment of the Mineral Council’s imagination and cannot stand up to the reality of renewables cutting into the market with very little support. People will see through this but sadly there is no transition plan to renewables in Australia,” said Blair Palese of climate campaign group 350.org.

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