EPA emissions clamp on NSW coal industry

Environmental regulators have ordered NSW coal mines to dramatically cut emissions or face penalties, with fears the state will miss its climate targets.

New Hope Corporation's Bengalla coal mine in NSW. Picture: Mike Armstrong

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NSW coalminers face a climate change crackdown, with the environmental regulator imposing new draft rules to cut methane and diesel pollution amid fears the state may fail to meet 2030 emissions reduction targets.

The Environment Protection Authority has created “tailored climate actions” for the coal industry as part of a broader curb on 200 premises that each emit 25,000 tonnes or more of scope 1 and scope 2 carbon dioxide annually.

NSW has set more ambitious emission reduction targets than the federal government, with a 50 per cent cut on 2005 levels by 2030, 70 per cent by 2035 and net zero by mid-century.

However, the EPA said official projections show a significant risk that NSW is not on track to meet its 2030 and 2035 targets without further action by the government and the private sector.

“NSW is gradually reducing overall emissions, but more work is needed to correct our course to stay on target,” it said.

NSW coal producers will be required to destroy methane in drainage gas at underground mines and plug old methane leaks by July 2027, while also eliminating ventilation air methane at underground mines by 2030.

Coalmine emissions, mostly methane, made up about 9 per cent of total NSW scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions with early action helping to slow the rate of atmospheric warming, according to the EPA.

Coal producers have raised issues with the cost of ventilation air methane abatement but the EPA said it remained financially viable for a number of underground mines while also helping meet obligations under the commonwealth’s Safeguard Mechanism.

The EPA is also targeting cuts to diesel emissions for surface coalmines with pollution from the fuel used in machines and trucks accounting for nearly a third of direct emissions, called Scope 1, from the state’s coal sector.

The draft proposal would see a staggered system whereby by July 2030 some 5 per cent of fuel used would need to be a low-carbon alternative to diesel, growing to 10 per cent by 2035.