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Coal in Australia

Open cut coal mine in the Hunter valley

Coal is mined in every state of Australia. The largest black coal resources occur in Queensland and New South Wales.[1] About 70% of coal mined in Australia is exported, mostly to eastern Asia,[2] and of the balance most is used in electricity generation. In 2019-20 Australia exported 390 Mt of coal (177 Mt metallurgical coal and 213 Mt thermal coal) and was the world's largest exporter of metallurgical coal and second largest exporter of thermal coal.[3] While only employing 50,000 mining jobs nationally coal provides a rich revenue stream for governments.[4]

Premier coal mine in Western Australia, 2022
Maules Creek coal mine, 2014

Coal mining in Australia has been criticized,[5][6] due to carbon dioxide emissions during combustion. This criticism is primarily directed at thermal coal, for its connection to coal-fired power stations as a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, and the link to climate change in Australia and worldwide.[7] Coal was responsible for 30% (164 million tonnes) of Australia's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, not counting methane and export coal, in 2019.[8] Coal as a fuel was responsible for 41% (160 million tonnes) of carbon dioxide emissions in Australia in 2020.[8]

The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which followed the draft report in the Garnaut Climate Change Review, placed a price on carbon emissions through a reducing cap and trade emissions trading scheme and incentivised against carbon pollution temporarily, before it was revoked in 2014.[9]

In 2021, coal accounted for 64% of energy production and 32% of the Total Energy Supply (TES), with 93% of its consumption by the heat and electricity generation sector and the remaining 7% by the industrial sector.[10]

  1. ^ "Coal". Australian government Geoscience Australia. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Coal". Government of South Australia Energy Mining. March 2020. Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  3. ^ Australian Government (2020). Resources and Energy Quarterly December 2020 (PDF). pp. 15, 41, 52.
  4. ^ Toscano, Nick; Foley, Mike (27 September 2021). "It's a $50b-a-year export industry. How long until coal's rivers of gold run dry?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  5. ^ The Greens NSW (July 2011). "Coal and Coal Seam Gas Policy". Archived from the original on 5 February 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  6. ^ Greens Queensland (19 February 2017). "Upper Hunter Valley coal mining shows dangers for Queensland". Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  7. ^ Preston, B.L.; Jones, R.N. "Climate Change Impacts on Australia and the Benefits of Early Action to Reduce Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions" (PDF). CSIRO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  8. ^ a b Ritchie, Hannah; Roser, Max (11 May 2020). "CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions". Our World in Data.
  9. ^ "Australia passes a law to reduce emissions, at last". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Australia 2023 – Analysis". IEA. Retrieved 11 March 2024.

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