CANBERRA (Reuters) -Australia’s Queensland state government said on Friday it would run coal power plants at least into the 2040s, reversing a previous plan to pivot rapidly to renewables and in turn making national emissions reduction targets harder to achieve.

The centre-right Liberal National Party won last year’s election in Queensland, a huge chunk of land in Australia’s northeast where more than 60% of electricity comes from coal-fired plants that are mostly owned by the state.

“The former Labor government’s ideological decision to close coal units by 2035, regardless of their condition, is officially abolished,” said Queensland Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki, laying out a five-year energy plan.

“Queensland’s coal-fired fleet is the youngest in the country and state-

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