"Isn't it amazing what this little black rock can do?" was the key slogan of the Minerals Council's notorious marketing campaign about coal's "endless possibilities".
Yet one thing the coal industry and its powerful lobby can't do is stop the momentum towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, as Australia's key coal customers embrace clean energy and act to try to limit the threat of global warming.
On Monday, Japan, by far Australia's biggest market for the thermal coal used in electricity generation, pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
