Why coal is the fuel of the future

The floods in northern Australia have been horrendous to watch. I spent some time in Brisbane about ten years ago. I know that natural disasters occur around the world all the time. But it brings it home to you when it happens to a place that you recognise. As well as being tragic on a human level, the floods in Queensland, along with other bad weather stories around the world, highlight how vulnerable the global economy is to disruptions in our supply chain. We've seen food prices surge to dangerous levels, for a start. But the damage to Queensland specifically highlights our dependence on one particular commodity – coal...