Australia’s High Court has delivered a landmark climate ruling, invalidating approval for the expansion of the Mount Pleasant coal mine in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley and setting a significant precedent for future fossil fuel projects.
In a 3-2 decision on Wednesday, the court found that the state’s Independent Planning Commission failed to properly consider conditions that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated when coal from the mine is exported and burned overseas.
The emissions, known as scope 3 emissions, are excluded from Australia’s domestic emissions tally but account for about 98 per cent of emissions linked to both the Mount Pleasant and Hunter Valley Operations, HVO, projects.
The case was brought by MACH Energy after the community group Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group successfully challenged the mine expansion on climate grounds in the NSW Court of Appeal.
Greens leaders welcomed the judgment, saying it sends a strong signal that governments and fossil fuel companies cannot disregard the climate impacts of exported coal once it leaves Australia.
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson said the ruling could also create significant legal difficulties for the Hunter Valley Operations expansion, the largest coal mine extension approved in NSW, which received approval from the Independent Planning Commission just a week earlier.
The commission had acknowledged that emissions from the HVO project would contribute to climate change locally and globally but concluded that the economic benefits to the region outweighed those impacts.
Higginson argued that the High Court ruling now raises serious questions over whether the HVO approval meets the legal requirement to minimise emissions to the greatest extent practicable.
The judgment has also drawn criticism from Australia’s opposition Liberal and Nationals leaders, Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan, who warned that it could undermine the country’s reputation as a reliable energy exporter.
They called on the federal and NSW governments to amend environmental planning laws to clarify that emissions generated overseas from Australian exports should not be considered when approving resource projects.
The High Court ruling is expected to have wider implications for coal and other fossil fuel developments in NSW, potentially forcing planning authorities to give greater consideration to the climate consequences of emissions generated beyond Australia’s borders.
