Experts have found massive underreporting of direct coal mine methane emissions.

Australia is the world’s 6th largest coal mine methane emitter and on track to become the 3rd worst. 

Despite this, the federal government has not signed the Global Methane Pledge and has continued to approve new and expanding coal mines at a rate only behind China and Russia.

Methane’s short-term climate impact is 82.5 times that of carbon dioxide, making the methane released by coal mines equivalent to 74.3 million tonnes of CO2. This is greater than the 44 million tonnes of CO2 emitted by cars each year.

A new report by international climate think tank Ember, commissioned by Lock the Gate Alliance, finds that methane leaking from Australia’s coal mines causes almost double the climate impact every year of all Australia’s cars.

The report identifies a list of super-emitting mines that should be a target for urgent action, with the 15 most polluting coal mines accounting for 50 per cent of the country’s reported emissions from mining, while producing just 10 per cent of Australia’s coal.

It suggests that one of the main reasons for Australia’s chronic underreporting of coal mine methane is a result of many companies using what’s called “standardised emissions estimates”, rather than actual measurements.

The International Energy Agency estimates that direct methane emissions from Australian coal mines in 2019 were double the reported amount. This would mean coal mines are releasing equivalent to 149Mt of CO2-e.

However, the research suggests the IEA’s figure is highly conservative, with state of the art satellite data showing some coal mines are releasing ten times the amount officially recorded.

The full report is accessible here.