Coal mines supplying BlueScope’s Port Kembla steelworks and Origin Energy’s Eraring power station could be among the worst affected by federal government plans for “industry averages” to be a major factor in setting emissions limits for coal mines.

Mining companies and their customers have urged the Albanese government to consider tighter definitions of “industry averages” out of concern that unintended and perverse outcomes could arise if the nation’s coal mines are viewed as a single industry.