An ABC analysis uncovers several examples of project approval being granted to coalmines based on environmental assessments that contained significant underestimates of their greenhouse gas pollution.
abc.net.au/news/coalmine-carbon-emissions-estimates-adani-whitehaven-grosvenor/102253064Whitehaven Coal's underground mine in northern NSW is polluting the atmosphere with more than three times the direct greenhouse gas emissions it forecast it would emit when it received environmental approval in 2015.
Campaigners who have analysed the data say that shows mining companies are getting away with providing bogus predictions when seeking approval., which aims to limit the total combined emissions from big-polluting industries. Despite the coal extraction increasing by more than 50 per cent on average, Whitehaven produced new estimates that predicted the mine's emissions would halve — a forecast that turned out to be inaccurate.
Not only would companies be incentivised to underestimate future emissions, they could also benefit from under-reporting their actual emissions. "Historically, baselines have been set far too generously because the true aim [of the policy] has not been, really, to reduce emissions," Mx Reynolds said.A baseline is the limit on a facility's greenhouse gas emissions allowed within a set time period. It is set by the Clean Energy Regulator . If a facility's emissions go over the baseline, it may be required to purchase carbon credits to offset the excess emissions, or face penalties.
Adani's initial approval was for now-defunct plans to develop a massive mine extracting 43 million tonnes of coal per year. Because environmental impact statements and approvals are considered at a state level, but the emissions limits are set by a federal regulator, an EIS does not necessarily have much bearing on the emissions limit set by the federal regulator, he said.
The Narrabri, Grosvenor and Carmichael mines all had emissions limits set by the CER under what's called "calculated baseline", which is based on the mine's highest forecast year of production. He said it was misleading to compare the latest reported emissions with the earlier forecasts as the reporting requirements and the production rate were different in the two reporting schemes.
"Any changes have largely resulted from updates to the way calculations are made under the legislation." Whitehaven said the regulations governing emissions management were "well established" and the company complied with those at all its mines.
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