The Greens are calling for a halt to all new coal mine approvals after a new report has revealed that methane emissions from open cut coal mines could be producing twice as much methane than is accounted for in the National Carbon Inventory.
The Greens spokesperson for mining, coal and gas, Cate Faehrmann MLC, said, ‘The 19 coal mines that are moving through the NSW planning system right now will blow our net zero targets out of the water.
‘With the methane released from open cut coal mines being up to 100 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, this report should be a massive wake up call for the government and another nail in the coffin for the coal industry.
‘This report suggests there has been a massive under-estimation of how much carbon is being emitted by coal mining and nothing less than a pause on new approvals is warranted until there is full transparency on all greenhouse gases being emitted by mining,’ said Ms Faehrmann.
‘The case for no new coal is already won given we are in a climate emergency. Now, with methane emissions being taken into account, it’s clear we need to transition away from coal more urgently than ever.’
Government legally obliged to reduce emissions
Greens spokesperson for climate change, Sue Higginson MLC said, ‘Work by the Greens means that the NSW Government must reduce emissions by 70 per cent by 2035 and is legally obliged to reach a net-zero emissions threshold by 2050.
‘These under reported methane emissions from coal mines will make these already inadequate targets impossible.
‘Climate change and the impacts of climate driven extreme weather events are already pushing communities and the environment of NSW to the absolute brink,’ she said. ‘If we aren’t even measuring emissions from coal mines properly, we can’t have any confidence that this won’t become catastrophically worse.’
More emissions, as if the Fossil Fuel Industry is really bothered.
The Fossil Fuel Industry is in for long haul, new coal and gas adventures keep getting approved by Lab and LibNat whenever either has the hand on the governing tiller. All those $’s hundreds of thousands ‘donations’ that they send to Lab and LibNat HQ each year delivers Return On Investment.
To have a hope in this climate catastrophe we first need to end new coal and gas adventures.
And to do that, stop voting for Lab and LIbNat. Change your vote to Greens or to Community Independents who embrace taking the actions that the climate science tells us that needs doing.
Asia is experiencing dangerous heatwaves in their spring, China is having record breaking floods, the sea temperatures along our Eastern coast
reached 28 degrees C this summer. Wine makers in Europe are moving to Scotland, and still LNP and Labor governments approve new Coal mines and gas fields. This is criminal and must STOP.
When are people going to wake up to the fact that all these emissions, all the environmental degradation and pollution is caused by too many people on the planet and too much consumption. We can’t do much about world population but we can stop buying stuff we don’t need or stop buying stuff that is single use or simply not long lasting due to quality. Everything around us we can see that is manmade, has had a detrimental environmental effect in its sourcing, manufacture, transport, sometimes its use, and then subsequent disposal. Very little gets recycled and that is a minor offset to the damage already caused. Consumption of resources and the high percentage of waste is what is killing the planet and all we want is more, more, more, not less, less, less.