Australia rules out banning coal and gas development

The Australian minister of climate change and energy Chris Bowen has ruled out banning new coal mine developments and has approved a gas development, despite pressure from the influential Greens party.

The Greens have been putting pressure on the ruling Labor Party to ban new coal mines in return for their support for the safeguard mechanism, which is central to Canberra’s plans to cut emissions by 43% of 2005 levels by 2030. But Bowen said a ban on new coal mines was not part of the Labor Party’s agenda and would not be part of the safeguard negotiations.

Labor has not approved any coal mine developments or extensions since it came to power in May 2022, and instead used a 22-year old environmental law for the first time to block a new coal mine proposal. It is reviewing 19 coal and gas project development approvals, with greater emphasis on their potential to add to climate change.

But fossil fuel advocates were encouraged last week when environment minister Tanya Plibersek approved Australian firm Santos’ Surat Basin plan to drill 116 new wells to provide gas for its Gladstone LNG plant in Queensland. This led the Greens to assert that Labor’s climate credibility was in tatters.

The Australian Senate is due to vote on the safeguard mechanism in March and needs the support of the Greens and at least two cross benchers for the legislation to be passed, with the opposition Liberal coalition opposed to the bill.