Re Xstrata Coal Queensland Pty. Ltd. & Others

Summary:

Environmental advocates argued that permission for a new coal mine should be conditional on the mine offsetting 100% of its expected GHG emissions. The Court assessed further factors such as the adverse environmental impact, prejudice to the public right and interest, and ecological sustainable development principles as under Section 269 of the Mineral Resources Act 1989. The Tribunal rejected the objections made after raising questions of the validity of the Stern Review and the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as not finding the cause and effect between the particular mine proposed and climate change, particularly in the absence of universally applied policies for GHG reduction.

At Issue: Relevance of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions to permission to develop new coal mine