U.N. urges Australia to speed up efforts to drop coal

FILE PHOTO: A miner holds a lump of iron ore at a mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, December 2, 2013. REUTERS/David Gray

(Reuters) - Australia's government should increase its efforts to phase out coal or else climate change will dramatically damage the country's economy, Selwin Hart, the United Nations special adviser on climate change, said on Sunday.

Australia's reliance on coal-fired power makes it one of the world's largest carbon emitters per capita, but its conservative government has steadfastly backed Australia's new deputy PM casts shadow over 2050 net zero emissions ambition fossil fuel industries, saying tougher action on emissions would cost jobs.