A community group in Australia's Hunter Valley has won the nation's first High Court case to consider climate change. The ruling, issued today, upheld a unanimous decision by the NSW court of appeal that had overturned MACH Energy's proposed expansion of its Mount Pleasant coalmine in Muswellbrook.
The High Court dismissed the coal company's appeal in a 3-2 split ruling. A majority of judges determined that the state's planning commission was required to, but failed to, consider how to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions generated when the coal is sold and burnt overseas. Specifically, the Independent Planning Commission did not consider imposing conditions to minimise these Scope 3 emissions to the greatest extent possible.
The planned expansion would have doubled the mine’s coal output to 21 million tonnes per annum until 2048. Scope 3 emissions were projected to account for 98% of the total emissions from the expansion.
Wendy Wales, president of the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (DAMSHEG), which initiated the original case, stated that the High Court's decision acknowledges the connection between digging up coal, shipping it overseas, and its role in driving climate change.