Underground coal mines the ‘clear losers’ as pollution caps tighten

Large open-cut mines, including BHP’s Mt Arthur coal mine, Adani’s Carmichael mine and Glencore and Yancoal’s Hunter Valley operations, are lower-intensity emitters and will earn credits from the scheme without having to take additional abatement measures.

The safeguard mechanism, which forms part of the Albanese government’s commitment to slash emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, is the first federal emissions-reduction policy since the Gillard government’s carbon tax from 2012 to 2014.

When the safeguard mechanism was created in 2016 by the former Coalition government, pollution caps were not strict enough to enforce industrial emissions reductions. Former prime minister Scott Morrison argued that “technology, not taxes” would allow Australia to exceed its target to cut at least 26 per cent of emissions by 2030, based on 2005 levels, without compelling industry to act.

But Labor pledged during the 2022 election campaign to set a more ambitious, legally binding target to cut Australia’s emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and the safeguard mechanism will be beefed up to meet that goal.

The new pollution caps aim to cut greenhouse output by a cumulative 205 million tonnes by the end of the decade – equivalent to about 40 per cent of Australia’s annual carbon footprint.

Coal mine methane policy adviser at Ember energy think tank Annika Reynolds said the safeguard mechanism had failed to curb unabated methane from coal mines since its inception in 2016.

“While the reforms to the mechanism aim to change this, whether real emissions-reduction will be achieved is still an open question,” she said.

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