Coal mining giant Glencore has announced it will cap its coal production and will prioritise investments that are essential to the low-carbon energy transition. It is a powerful illustration of how the corporate world realises that coal will be on the way out, globally.

Coal-fired power's days are numbered, but what number should we put on it? Credit:Michele Mossop

For Australia, this is a question both of moving to clean energy exports, such as hydrogen produced from renewable energy, and of the phase-out of the fleet of coal-fired power stations. The latter means profound changes for the electricity industry and some regional communities, and it could come sooner than many have thought because renewables are becoming cost-competitive with existing coal plants.

This challenge is shared with Germany, which also relies heavily on coal for electricity generation.

The German approach emphasises consensus-oriented dialogue between stakeholders, in stark contrast to the heavily politicised debate in Australia. The German government installed a "Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment", or coal commission for short, to come up with a plan to phase out coal use.