• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says July 4, 2022
‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation July 4, 2022
Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History July 4, 2022
Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta June 29, 2022
London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty June 29, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Jurisdictions Australia

Landmark Court Ruling Cites Climate Impact in Refusing New Australian Coal Mine

February 11, 2019
Reading time: 3 minutes

Landscape protected by the landmark court decision rejecting the Rocky Hill Coal Mine in New South Wales. Canterbury Greens/Twitter

Landscape protected by the landmark court decision rejecting the Rocky Hill Coal Mine in New South Wales. Canterbury Greens/Twitter

31
SHARES
 

In what’s being hailed as a landmark ruling, the Land and Environment Court in New South Wales, Australia has listed climate change as one of the reasons to reject construction of a new open-cut coal mine.

In what the NSW Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) had called a “once in a generation case”, chief judge Brian Preston concluded that the mine proposed by Gloucester Resources Ltd. and opposed by NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Preston cited the mine’s “significant adverse social impacts on the community”, and in a first for any Australian court, pointed to the climate impacts of coal mining.

“The construction and operation of the mine, and the transportation and combustion of the coal from the mine, will result in the emission of greenhouse gases, which will contribute to climate change,” he wrote.

The mine would have added 37.8 megatonnes of carbon dioxide or equivalent to the atmosphere, prompting Preston to describe it as “a sizeable individual source” of emissions.

“All anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change,” and “it matters not that the aggregate of the Project’s greenhouse gas emissions may represent a small fraction of the global total,” he wrote. “The global problem of climate change needs to be addressed by multiple local actions to mitigate emissions by sources and remove greenhouse gases by sinks.”

“We’ve won, we’ve won,” enthused Di Montague of the anti-coal mine Groundswell Gloucester, adding that the decision should “reverberate across every community fighting coal and coal seam gas in Australia.”

EDO CEO David Morris said the ruling “will be generally applicable to any coal mine in Australia.”

“On first pass it doesn’t read well for the industry,” agreed Shaw & Partners analyst Peter O’Connor. “It does indicate an ongoing and increased level of scrutiny of this industry, which is only likely to become greater.”

The Sydney Morning Herald says the case was the first time an Australian court heard evidence of a global carbon budget to justify refusing an application for a new coal mine. Preston’s stature as chief justice of the Land and Environment Court and former member of the state’s Supreme Court of Appeal adds weight to the decision as a precedent for other Australian courts.

“The comprehensive nature of the judgment, including detailed assessment of the mine’s other negative social and cultural impacts, will provide hurdles for any successful appeal,” and “similar arguments are likely to surface in future coal and other fossil fuel approval cases,” the SMH notes. “Internationally, the decision is likely to add to the growing trend of global jurisprudence directly linking fossil fuels and climate change, elevating the risk that coal investments will be stranded,” the paper adds, citing Martijn Wilder, head of Baker McKenzie’s Global Environmental Markets and Climate Change.

NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee disputed the sense that this was a landmark case, noting that state planners had already recommended against approval. “We’ll take a close look at the judgment, including what appears to be a range of different reasons for the outcome,” he said.

But one of the witnesses in the case, Will Steffen of Australian National University’s Climate Change Institute, welcomed the result.

“This landmark decision sends a clear message to the fossil fuel industry that it cannot continue to expand if we are serious about tackling climate change,” he said. “Shutting the door on new fossil fuel developments will be a major turning point in the battle to stabilize the climate system—and will add further momentum to the shift to clean, reliable renewable energy systems.”



in Australia, Carbon Levels & Measurement, Climate Action / "Blockadia", Coal, Ending Emissions, Legal & Regulatory

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Wikimedia Commons
Oil & Gas

BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says

July 4, 2022
43
angela n./flickr
United States

‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation

July 4, 2022
40
EdmondMeinfelder/flickr
Environmental Justice

Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History

July 4, 2022
17

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

opinion polling gender green recovery climate action

Conservative Women Far More Likely Than Men to Support Green Transition, EcoAnalytics Research Finds

July 4, 2022
46
U.S. Navy/picryl

Montreal to Host New NATO Climate Centre as Military Analyst Confronts Global ‘Hyperthreat’

July 4, 2022
45
Wikimedia Commons

BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says

July 4, 2022
43
angela n./flickr

‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation

July 4, 2022
40
Maurits90/Wikimedia Commons

San Francisco Commuter Train Derailed by Scorching Track Temperatures, Extreme Heat

July 4, 2022
30
Keith Hirsche

Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta

July 3, 2022
457

Recent Posts

EdmondMeinfelder/flickr

Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History

July 4, 2022
17
Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons

Youth Climate Case Moves to Top Tribunal in European Court

July 4, 2022
20
Seci/wikimedia commons

Saudi Aramco Talks Net-Zero, Plans to Boost Production Through 2035

July 4, 2022
11
Keith Weller/Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Methane Plan Gives Big Ag a Free Pass

July 4, 2022
13
Fadi Hage/wikimedia commons

Indoor Farming Revolution Comes with Significant Carbon Cost

July 4, 2022
16
Mont SUTTON snow terrain

Southern Quebec Towns Scramble for Solutions as Water Sources Dwindle

July 4, 2022
21
Next Post
Pexels

Atmospheric Methane Increases Could ‘Negate or Reverse Progress’ on CO2 Cuts

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}