\n<\/p>\n
The New South Wales government has been warned it can no longer approve coalmine developments after the state\u2019s climate agency found new expansions would be inconsistent with its legislated emissions targets.<\/p>\n
In what climate advocates described as a significant turning point in campaigns against new fossil fuel programs, the NSW Net Zero Commission said coalmine expansions were \u201cnot consistent\u201d with the state\u2019s legal emissions reductions commitments of a 50% cut (compared with 2005 levels) by 2030, a 70% cut by 2035, and reaching net zero by 2050.<\/p>\n
The commission\u2019s Coal Mining Emissions Spotlight Report said the government should consider the climate impact \u2013 including from the \u201cscope 3\u201d emissions released into the atmosphere when most of the state\u2019s coal is exported and burned overseas \u2013 in all coalmine planning decisions.<\/p>\n
Environmental lawyer Elaine Johnson said the report was a \u201cgame-changer\u201d as it argued coalmining was the state\u2019s biggest contribution to the climate crisis and that new coal proposals were inconsistent with the legislated targets.<\/p>\n
She said it also found demand for coal was declining \u2013 consistent with recent analyses by federal Treasury and the advisory firm Climate Resource \u2013 and the state government must support affected communities to transition to new industries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat all this means is that it is no longer lawful to keep approving more coalmine expansions in NSW,\u201d Johnson wrote on social media site LinkedIn. \u201cLet\u2019s hope the Department of Planning takes careful note when it\u2019s looking at the next coalmine expansion proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lock the Gate Alliance, a community organisation that campaigns against fossil fuel developments, said the report showed changes were required to the state\u2019s planning framework to make authorities assess emissions and climate damage when considering mine applications.<\/p>\n
It said this should apply to 18 mine expansions that have been proposed but not yet approved, including two \u201cmega-coalmine expansions\u201d at the Hunter Valley Operations and Maules Creek mines. Eight coalmine expansions have been approved since the Minns Labor government was elected in 2023.<\/p>\n
Lock the Gate\u2019s Nic Clyde said NSW already had 37 coalmines and \u201cwe can\u2019t keep expanding them indefinitely\u201d. He called for an immediate moratorium on approving coal expansions until the commission\u2019s findings had been implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week, multiple NSW communities have been battling dangerous bushfires, which are becoming increasingly severe due to climate change fuelled by coalmining and burning. Our safety and our survival depends on how the NSW government responds to this report,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Q&A<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Net zero emissions is a target that has been adopted by governments, companies and other organisations to eliminate their contribution to the climate crisis. It is sometimes called \u201ccarbon neutrality\u201d.<\/p>\n The climate crisis is caused by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere, where they trap heat. They have already caused a significant increase in average global temperatures above pre-industrial levels recorded since the mid-20th century.\u00a0<\/p>\n Countries and others that set net zero emissions targets are pledging to stop their role in worsening this by cutting their climate pollution and balancing out whatever emissions remain by sucking an equivalent amount of CO2 out of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n This could happen through nature projects \u2013 tree planting, for example \u2013 or using carbon dioxide removal technology.<\/p>\n CO2 removal from the atmosphere is the \u201cnet\u201d part in net zero. Scientists say some emissions will be hard to stop and will need to be offset. But they also say net zero targets will be effective only if carbon removal is limited to offset \u201chard to abate\u201d emissions. Fossil use will still need to be dramatically reduced.<\/p>\n After signing the 2015 Paris agreement, the global community asked the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to assess what would be necessary to give the world a chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C.<\/p>\n The IPCC found it would require deep cuts in global CO2 emissions: to about 45% below 2010 levels by 2030, and to net zero by about 2050.<\/p>\n The Climate Action Tracker has found more than 145 countries have set or are considering setting net zero emissions targets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photograph: Ashley Cooper pics\/www.alamy.com<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n The alliance\u2019s national coordinator, Carmel Flint, added: \u201cIt\u2019s not just history that will judge the government harshly if they continue approving such projects following this report. Our courts are likely to as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The NSW Minerals Council criticised the commission\u2019s report. Its chief executive, Stephen Galilee, said it was a \u201cflawed and superficial analysis\u201d that put thousands of coalmining jobs at risk. He said some coalmines would close in the years ahead but was \u201cno reason\u201d not to approve outstanding applications to extend the operating life of about 10 mines.<\/p>\n Galilee said emissions from coal in NSW were falling faster than the average rate of emission reduction across the state and were \u201calmost fully covered\u201d by the federal government\u2019s safeguard mechanism policy, which required mine owners to either make annual direct emissions cuts or buy offsets.<\/p>\n He said the NSW government should \u201creflect on why it provides nearly $7m annually\u201d for the commission to \u201ccampaign against thousands of NSW mining jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n But the state\u2019s main environment organisation, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, said the commission report showed coalmining was \u201cincompatible with a safe climate future\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Net Zero Commission has shone a spotlight. Now the free ride for coalmine pollution has to end,\u201d the council\u2019s chief executive, Jacqui Mumford, said.<\/p>\n The state climate change and energy minister, Penny Sharpe, said the commission was established to monitor, report and provide independent advice on how the state was meeting its legislated emissions targets, and the government would consider its advice \u201calong with advice from other groups and agencies\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The New South Wales government has been warned it can no longer approve coalmine developments after the state\u2019s climate agency found new expansions would be inconsistent with its legislated emissions targets. In what climate advocates described as a significant turning point in campaigns against new fossil fuel programs, the NSW Net Zero Commission said coalmine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[6650,186,8832,17592,4855,558,112,124,293,122,1415,123,5584],"class_list":{"0":"post-37336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-breach","9":"tag-climate","10":"tag-coalmine","11":"tag-expansions","12":"tag-gamechanger","13":"tag-government","14":"tag-nsw","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-report","17":"tag-south","18":"tag-targets","19":"tag-wales","20":"tag-warned"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is net zero emissions?<\/h4>\n