The expansion of three Australian coalmines, approved by the Labor government last week, could generate more than 1.3bn tonnes of damaging greenhouse gas over the next 24 years.
The 1.3bn tonnes is more than three times Australia’s entire annual emissions – about 440m tonnes; and about 12 times the total released by Australia’s ageing coal power plants every year – about 110m tonnes.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, approved a plan to extend underground mining at Whitehaven’s Narrabri mine for 13 years until 2044, at Mach Energy’s mine at Mount Pleasant until 2048 and at Yancoal’s Ravensworth mine until 2032.
