Coal in Australia

Production and reserves

Australian coal is either high-quality bituminous coal (black coal) or lower-quality lignite (brown coal). Bituminous coal is mined in Queensland and New South Wales. It is used for both domestic power generation and is exported. Mining is underground or open-cut. The coal is transported by rail to power stations or export shipping terminals.

Lignite is mined in Victoria and South Australia, and is of lower quality due to a lower thermal value largely caused by a high water content. Ash content varies significantly but some Australian lignites have relatively low ash content. In 2013 coal from three open cut lignite coal mines in Victoria was used for power generation.

It was the fourth-highest producer with 6.9% of global production (503 Mt out of 7,269 Mt total). 77% of production was exported (389 Mt out of 503 Mt total). At the end of 2019, Australia earned $63.9 billion from black coal. The value of Australian coal exports reached $112 billion in the 2021-22 financial year. This was the second time a commodity had reached $100 billion in exports for Australia, after iron ore. In 2021, Australia ranked second among International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries for the highest utilization of coal in both energy generation and electricity production.

Exports

In 2016, Australia was the biggest net exporter of coal, with 32% of global exports (389 Mt out of 1,213 Mt total). Australia exports the largest share of coal of any nation, at 54% of the total. In 2020, exports of coal accounted for 1% of national revenue, with a total value of A$55 billion. Australia is the world's leading exporter of coking coal. In 2021-2022, about 55% of its coal exports were thermal coal, with the remainder being metallurgical coal. The primary destinations for its coal exports are Asian countries, notably Japan, Korea, India, and Taiwan. Following import restrictions by the Chinese government in 2021, coal exports to China ceased, even though China had previously received 69% of Australia's exports in 2020. Currently, the main importers of Australia's metallurgical coal include India, Japan, the European Union, and Korea.

Major coal export ports

The Port of Newcastle, New South Wales, is the world's largest and most efficient coal handling operation through its two terminals: Carrington and Kooragang. Australia has nine major coal-export ports, including:

Table of Coal Mines in Australia

Major coal mining companies

The largest coal producers in Australia are BHP, Glencore, Yancoal, Peabody, Anglo American and Whitehaven Coal. As at June 2023, coal companies in Australia were making windfall profits due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, international sanctions against Russia and the energy transition in Europe are also forcing Russia to direct its coal exports eastward, creating more competition with Australian exports in the long term.

Future planned coal mining

As of 2025, several new coal mines are still planned for development in Australia. This includes Olive Downs mine, to be operated by Pembroke Resources, near Coppabella, Queensland. In 2021, the federal government agreed to loan the project A$175 million to begin the first stages of its development. In April 2022, the construction of the mine commenced. Production is expected to begin in 2023.

Divestment from coal

Australia's coal policy is aligning with legislative targets to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and reduce emissions by 43% by 2030. There's no fixed schedule for phasing out coal electricity plants or coal mining activities. Coal-fired generators must give a three-and-a-half-year notice before shutting down.

Several mines have announced plans to wind-down operations in coal within set timeframes, alongside planned closures of coal power plants in Australia. This includes Werris Creek (2025).

In 2016, Glencore announced that Tahmoor Colliery would be closed by 2019. However, Glencore later sold the mine to SIMEC in 2018, who still operate it.

In 2018, Rio Tinto completed its exit from coal mining with the sale of the Kestrel coal mine.

BHP planned to sell the Mount Arthur mine in 2022, but failed to attract a viable offer and decided to continue operations there until financial year 2030.

In August 2022, BHP completed its sale of the BHP Mitsui Coal to Stanmore Resources.

Banks such as Westpac have introduced restrictions on lending for new thermal coal mines, including a limit of 6,300 kilocalories per kilogram for new projects. By 2021, Australia' big four banks were committed to leaving thermal coal by 2030, pledging alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement. In 2021, ANZ concluded that the Port of Newcastle could become a stranded asset. ANZ took the opportunity to divest when the port was refinancing.

Phase-out

Australian power stations are expected to stop burning coal by 2038 or earlier. The Australian electricity market has been moving away from coal as renewables, especially solar power are developed. The proportion of electricity generated by coal-fired power stations dropped to a record low of less than 50% in early 2025.

There is no true transition to a clean economy if the federal government continues to approve new fossil fuel projects. Leading global authorities, including the International Energy Agency, the United Nations, and the scientific community, have consistently stated that no new gas fields, coal mines, or mine extensions are necessary to meet climate goals. The Australia Institute's Coal Mine Tracker keeps track of coal mine proposals and their potential emissions.

In 2023–24, Australian governments allocated $14.5 billion in spending and tax incentives to support the fossil fuel industry, representing a 31% increase from 2022–23. Forward estimates indicate that subsidies have risen from $57 billion to a record $65 billion, an amount 6.5 times larger than the Housing Australia Future Fund. Critics argue that these subsidies contribute to greenwashing and undermine efforts to implement effective climate policies. Advocates for subsidy reform highlight that reducing fossil fuel subsidies could lead to significant emissions reductions while reallocating funds toward public services and sustainable initiatives.

Environmental impacts

Both underground and open-cut mines generate significant environmental impacts, including modified topography, soil erosion, water pollution, air pollution and acid water drainage. The coal industry claims that extensive rehabilitation of areas mined helps to ensure that land capability, after coal mining, meets agreed and appropriate standards. It is estimated that air pollution from coal-fired power stations in Australia is responsible for 785 premature deaths each year. According to a report done by leading epidemiologist, Dr Ben Ewald, Over half of these premature deaths were from a power station group located in Sydney.

Coal is the principal fossil fuel used in power generation not only in Australia but in many other countries. Links between coal mining, coal burning, and climate change are being discussed widely in Australia.

On 19 December 2024, the Australian government approved three major coal mines—Caval Ridge, Boggabri, and Lake Vermont—projected to produce 350 million tonnes of coal and 936 million tonnes of emissions. The approval was controversial, especially as the Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek defended the projects by emphasizing their use in steel production. However, critics like the Australia Institute argue that all coal combustion contributes to climate change, regardless of its end use.

On 27 November 2006 the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales judge Justice Nicola Pain made the decision to set aside the Director-General's acceptance of the Environmental Assessment for the Anvil Hill coal mine, on the grounds that it did not include a comprehensive greenhouse gas assessment, even though the proposed mining of coal was for export. However, on 7 June 2007 the planning minister for NSW Frank Sartor reversed this decision and approved the mine, attaching a list of 80 conditions to the mines operation including conservation offsets.

An international climate think tank produced a report that concluded Australia's coal mines are emitting twice as much methane as national estimates, finding a massive under-reporting of methane emissions in Australia. As part of the nation's commitment to the Paris Agreement Australia must reduce its emissions by 26–28% in 2030 compared to 2005. According to the International Energy Agency, no new coal projects or gas projects can be approved if the world is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Environmental Justice

People in Australia who have originally and newly live near and work in mines are being disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change due to coal mining. Mining and resource extraction leave long-term environmental damage, and social harm is experienced most by local or vulnerable communities, while people who live further away from these mines benefit. As resource sectors expand in Australia, the social and physical implications worsen. Pollution from mining is a growing concern among those who live and work in coal-mining areas. Coal mines have had detrimental effects on the land. An example of this is from the book, The Dark Side of Australia’s Resources Rush, Clearly writes, “Simultaneously, agricultural land in Eastern Australia is being dotted by an increasing number of coal-seam gas wells, with major implications for people and environments. The industry has the potential to: contaminate underground acquifers; produce billions of litres of unmanageablesaline waste water that will yield millions of tonnes of salt and threaten farmland, river systems and wetlands; overlay an extensive network of access roads and pipelines; accelerate climate change by leaking methane gas into the atmosphere; trigger earthquakes; depress land values.” More specifically, a region in Gippsland, Victoria )Latrobe Valley) is significantly known for its brown coal mining. According to ABC news reporter, Jarrod Whitaker, based in Gippsland s office, “researchers found the Latrobe Valley, which is home to the Yallourn and Loy Yang A and B power stations, had the highest concentrations in Victoria. The Greenpeace report attributed 37 deaths in the south-east Gippsland region to pollution from coal plants, with almost half of those in the Latrobe Valley.” These findings came days after research that showed “unborn children in the Latrobe Valley who were exposed to toxic smoke during the 2014 Hazelwood coal mine fire were more likely to develop respiratory conditions than children who inhaled the smoke themselves.”

The Hazelwood fire burned for four weeks and released smoke and ash that settled to nearby neighborhoods of Morwell located in Latrove Valley, Victoria which are home to many lower-income families. This is also the location of the Yallourn and Loy Yang A and B power stations. People were experiencing symptoms such as “headaches; nausea; shortness of breath; sore throats; diarrhoea; nose bleeds; sore eyes; chest pain; and fatigue…On 28 February, the Victorian Chief Health Officer advised that the elderly, unwell, children and pregnant women should temporarily leave South Morwell. Government grants of up to $1250 were made available to assist with their temporary relocation.” According to the Australian Barreau of statistics, the median weekly household income is just about $1250. This amount of money is nearly not enough to support a whole lower-income family be relocated and support their everyday needs. Despite these issues, governmental positions like Tanya Plibersek, environmental minister, defend projects of adding more major coal mines. Not only has she approved these large mines, but Conservation groups like the Wilderness Society also said she has “not complied with a legal requirement to create recovery plans for 11 species — including Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles, greater gliders and lungfish — threatened with extinction” at the beginning of 2025. This contradicts her position of Environment Minister at the time. She is an “environmentalist” although opposing climate action at the same time.

Nonhuman species are often affected by coal mines. For example, according to ecological researcher Bill Ellis, “A population of endangered koalas has been spotted by drones in a patch of bushland earmarked for a coal mine expansion.” Now, koalas are endangered in Queensland, Australia, and expanding mines into their habitats endanger them more than they already are from the effects of climate change. Additionally, Ellis further explains how “Global mining giant Glencore plans to expand the footprint of the Hail Creek metallurgical and thermal coal export mine, a move its environmental assessment shows will disrupt nearly 600 hectares of ‘ecologically significant’ koala habitat.” According to Stephanie Carrick, the manager and Campaign lead for the Sydney Basin Koala Network, Koalas play a crucial role in the ecosystem by supporting biodiversity and protecting their habitat which automatically protects many other insects and bird that rely on the same environment.

According to local activists, harming nonhuman species is a problem of environmental injustice koalas, and all other species found near these toxic mines, have the right to a healthy habitat that supports them so that they can support the environment in return. Queensland Conservation Council coal and gas campaigner Charlie Cox, who believes in an urgent transition away from fossil fuels, said “the discovery of a significant koala population should ring alarm bells …If the Albanese government means it when they say they are serious about no new extinctions, then they must halt all coal project assessments in the region until the population size, health and habitat can be thoroughly investigated.”

There have been people living in the locations of where these mines are for 1000s of years. An example fo mines being built on people home lands are Indigenous lands, according to Research Institute, Samy Andres Leyton-Flo, “Many mine sites are located on or near Indigenous Lands (ILs) and close to pristine ecosystems, which have caused social, economic, and environmental impacts in those areas.” Specifically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are living in mining regions within Australia. According to Jon Altman, Foundation director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, “Negotiations and agreements have failed to deliver community benefit packages and economic development for most Indigenous people. For example, higher pollution levels are common in areas where Indigenous people with the lowest socioeconomic status reside.” This environmental inequality is reinforced by legal frameworks that limit Indigenous control over land use. One specific land act is the Aboriginal Land Right Act, but it “does not give Indigenous communities the power to reject mining development projects on their lands, leading to the exclusion of Indigenous Australians from decision-making regarding resource develop-ment on their traditional lands.” As a result of this limited legal authority, Indigenous communities have turned to direct action to oppose these unwanted projects. An example of this is how the Aboriginal people of Australia have protested mines on their traditional lands. As of July of 2025, a small ceremonial fire has been burning for 1,300 days on the traditional land of the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) people. They have been protesting for over four years against the Carmichael coal mine, one of the country's most controversial mining projects. This mine is located very close to the traditional land of the Wangan and Jagalingou people. The W&J people believe this land was created by a powerful ancestral being in ancient stories of theirs that is associated with water, creation, and land.

The Doongmabulla Springs are connected to a larger water system that is above one of the largest untapped coal reserves in the world. According to hydrogeologist Matthew Currell, “hydrocarbons began to be detected within the spring waters themselves.” Because of these hydrocarbons W&J people have been arguing that the mine is “threatening their sacred water source, and that their rights, culture and connection to ’country’, as Indigenous Australians term their ancestral homeland, are being ignored.”

Protests against coal

One of the first protests against coal development occurred to the south of Sydney in the early 1970s. Clutha Development wanted to build a new coal loading facility at Coalcliff. Coal was to be stored in heaps along the coast. Local activist, Judy Gjedsted, organised protests which successfully ended the proposal. Gjedsted, concerned that coal dust would impact her local environment, formed the South Coast Organisation Opposing Pollution (SCOOP). Gjedsted and SCOOP joined parades and carried signs denouncing the Clutha development. After a lot of work, “SCOOP, the National Trust, Milo Dunphy and Edward St John’s Clutha Committee worked together to organise a public meeting at Sydney Town Hall. It was packed with 3,000 people and the state minister for mines and conservation, Wal Fife, spoke in favour of the development.” The Sydney Morning Herald reported that he was “booed continuously by the crowd for 20 minutes.” Seven months later, Clutha announced that it would not continue with the project, “citing falling coal prices and the cost of the development.”

In November 2021, anti-coal protestors led by Blockade Australia disrupted activity at the world’s largest coal terminal, the Port of Newcastle, by abseilling from equipment and obstructing railway tracks. The protests lasted for 10 days and 17 people were arrested. Coordinated action by Blockade Australia in June 2023 saw ports in Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne targeted. In April 2023, about 50 people caused a train loaded with coal to come to a halt at Newcastle. Some of the protestors then climbed on top of a carriage loaded with coal, remaining there for almost three hours.

The Carmichael mine run by Adani Group, planned since 2012 and opened in 2021, drew national and international opposition, both from climate activists and traditional owners. In August 2019, the government extinguished 1,385 hectares of Wangan and Jaggalingou native title in order to grant Adani title to the land. Protestor activity at the mine has included 40 people blocking the entrance of the mine, with two chaining themselves to a drum of reinforced concrete.

In November 2023, one of the largest protests against coal and fossil fuels in Australia took place in Newcastle. A 30-hour blockade consisting of kayaks, surfboards and pontoons across a shipping channel blocked coal exports from the port. The occupation was organised by Rising Tide. More than 100 people were arrested after staying longer than an agreed deadline.

Environmental regulation of coal mining

The Australian commonwealth government is responsible for making policy on off-shore exploration of coal and resources, while the governments of the states and territories are responsible for policy on onshore exploration.

The Australian government is pushing to keep these industries because it offers so many jobs. According to the LA Times, “The industry employs about 26,000 people and the government will establish a Future Jobs and Investment Authority to help transition workers into new careers.” A new group that is fighting to promote coal expansion is Coal Australia. According to the Queensland conservation council, “It presents itself as a voice for communities and workers, but in reality, it's fronted by ex-media producers1 and backed by some of the largest coal corporations in the country.”

Movements and groups that have been working against the expansion of coal mines in Australia include Lock the Gate, Stop Adani, and Move Beyond Coal. These groups focus on protecting water resources, preventing climate change, and defending land rights, with specific campaigns targeting projects. The groups have been constantly campaigning and spreading awareness on the harms of these mines.

Commonwealth law

The main Commonwealth environmental laws potentially applicable to coal mining are the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and the Clean Energy Act 2011. The EPBC Act is triggered if a proposed action is likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance, for example federally listed threatened species and groundwater impacts.

In September 2022, the Australian Parliament passed the Climate Change Bill. It includes the national targets of cutting emissions by at least 43% by 2030 (compared with 2005) and reaching net zero by 2050. The bill is largely symbolic, it doesn't stipulate how the country will get to its targets.

State laws

New South Wales

Relevant laws are mining law, land use planning law, biodiversity law and water law. New South Wales (NSW) operates a planning system in which coal mines and other environmentally harmful projects are frequently approved with limited resistance. As one of the world’s largest coal exporters, NSW plays a significant role in global fossil carbon emissions. Consequently, the state's decisions on climate change and fossil fuel policy are likely to have enduring global implications.

Recently, the Australia Institute submitted a contribution to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the state’s planning system and its approach to climate impacts. The submission highlighted concerns that coal mines and other high-emission projects are often approved with minimal scrutiny of their climate consequences. It noted that economic assessments commissioned by project proponents tend to overstate benefits while understating community costs. Strengthening public sector capacity and governance of consultants was recommended to improve decision-making processes.

The Australia Institute has also played an active role in the public debate surrounding the Warkworth Project, beginning with expert economic evidence presented by two of its economists in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court (LEC). This evidence contributed to the Court’s decision to overturn the project's approval. Since then, the Institute has submitted multiple representations and participated in all public hearings on the matter. Throughout its involvement, the Australia Institute has maintained that the project's economic benefits have been overstated by Rio Tinto and its consultants, while the associated environmental and social costs have been downplayed. The Institute argues that the overall economic advantages do not justify the project's significant environmental and social impacts.

Pollution law

Coal mining requires a pollution control ('environment protection') licence under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW) if it exceeds the following thresholds set out in Schedule 1 of the Act: if it is mining, processing or handling of coal (including tailings and chitter) at underground mines or open cut mines and (a) it has a capacity to produce more than 500 tonnes of coal per day, or (b) it has disturbed, is disturbing or will disturb a total surface area of more than 4 hectares of land by: (i) clearing or excavating, or (ii) constructing dams, ponds, drains, roads, railways or conveyors, or (iii) storing or depositing overburden or coal (including tailings and chitter).

Queensland

In March 2020, the Queensland Resources Council introduced safety protocols to promote the health of coal mine workers amidst the international spread of COVID-19. These included improvements to social distancing of workers, disallowing visitors from the public to enter the sites and checking the temperature of workers at mine site entries.

Research on Coal Mines

The Australia Institute reveals that the NSW government allocates five times more funding to promoting coal than to supporting mining communities in transitioning away from it. In the 2022–23 financial year, coal royalties accounted for approximately 4.2% of the total revenue of the New South Wales (NSW) Government, amounting to around $4.5 billion. This increase was attributed to a surge in global coal prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This report advocates for the dissolution of Coal Innovation NSW and its associated funds. It also recommends the immediate termination of royalty deduction subsidies to LETA.

Two in three (66%) think Australian governments should plan to phase out coal mining and transition into other industries. Despite this, in 2022-23, Australian governments committed $11.1 billion in subsidies for fossil fuel projects. While one in three (33%) want new coal mines to be allowed, just 7% support using taxpayer funds to subsidise those mines.