An energy expert has proposed a bold scheme whereby Australia's massive coal exports could be sold as a carbon neutral product, shoring up the commodity's future as the world tackles climate change.
Coal companies would pay big dollars to farmers and scientists to slash their emissions.
In return, the companies could declare their coal was "green", attaching carbon credits to their product.
"It's like the Heart Foundation tick of approval," said the scheme's proposer, Andrew Richards from renewable energy company Pacific Hydro.
"You can sell coal by having carbon credits stapled to it."
Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter - a trade worth $24 billion last year and employing 30,000 people.
But coal is one of the most polluting ways of generating energy, so its long-term export future is threatened by efforts to combat climate change.
Australia has been focused on developing "clean coal" technology which would involve burying the carbon pollution from power plants. A commercial-scale operation could be a some years away.
Richards said his proposal, which he described as entrepreneurial, could start more quickly.
It could involve farmers being paid to store carbon in plants and the soil, a practice called biosequestration.
Companies also could be paid to develop renewable energy projects like geothermal plants.
Richards said selling "Kyoto coal" would require a more sophisticated carbon credit system, and would become more viable if Japan and European countries brought in carbon tariffs.
He addressed his proposal on Wednesday at a lunch of business leaders in Canberra organised by conservation groups and the ACTU to talk about business opportunities arising from the need to tackle climate change.
The meeting was told that superannuation funds were increasingly looking to invest in clean energy projects.
Another proposal suggested was that carbon emitted by coal-fired power plants could be used to grow algae for the production of biofuels and biofertilisers.
