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.
All three mines are in New South Wales. The Narrabri and Mount Pleasant mines will target thermal coal for export and burning in power stations. Plibersek has said the emissions from the mines will fall under the government’s safeguard mechanism, which is designed to cap and reduce direct emissions within Australia at major polluting sites.
Australia’s total emissions were 440.2m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MT CO2-3) in the year to March 2024. Emissions were 28.2% below the June 2005 baseline. You can see more in our interactive tracker.
Australia’s ageing coal power plants emitted 110.58m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023, according to the energy thinktank Ember.
Notes and methods:
Emissions estimates are in CO2-e
Estimates of emissions from Australian coal-fired power stations are 2023 levels taken from Ember’s 2024 yearly electricity data
Other estimates say emissions from Australian coal-fired power stations are as high as 122m tonnes
