Australian Coal Giant Pivots to Asia as Climate Activism Strangles Domestic Funding

Chinese street vendors and customers gather at a local market outside a state owned coal-fired power plant in Anhui Province, China, on June 14, 2017. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

One of Australia’s largest coal miners is planning to raise $1 billion (US$740 million) through the sale of bonds in China and Asia amid increasing financial pressures locally due to climate change activism.

Kevin Ball, the chief financial officer of Whitehaven Coal—which operates four coal mines in northwest New South Wales (NSW)—said Asian debt capital markets would be able to provide funding for “decades to come.”