Australia’s methane emissions from coal mines are twice as high as national estimates, with some mines leaking up to 10 times more methane than officially reported, according to a research group. international climate.
Key points:
- A new report reveals that methane emissions from Australian coal mines are double official estimates
- In 2019, coal methane emissions had a greater impact on global warming than all cars in Australia
- New “readily available” technologies could reduce methane emissions by 45 percent
European researcher Ember was commissioned by the environmental group, the Lock the Gate Alliance, to analyze available data on methane emissions from the Australian Greenhouse Emissions Information System (AGEIS), the regulator of Clean Energy (CER), the chief Australian economist in the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Global Energy Monitor.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and its global warming potential is more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide.
The report found that in 2019, methane emissions from coal mines in Australia accounted for 68% of total emissions from the energy industry, making it a larger contributor to oil and gas. .
“What we found is that the leakage of methane from Australian coal mines causes almost twice the climate impact of every car in Australia each year,” said the report’s author, Dr Sabina. Assan.
“This is a really massive climate impact before we start thinking about the carbon dioxide emissions released by coal combustion.”
The Ember report found that the Hail Creek coal mine in central Queensland was leaking almost 10 times more methane than was officially reported. (ABC News: Louisa Rebgetz)
Lock the Gate Queensland coordinator Ellie Smith said the report had found that “there is an insufficient report of methane emissions in Australia”.
“Therefore, we are not taking all of these issues into account in our national accounting framework,” he said.
The report also revealed new data from the IEA, which estimated that Australian coal mines would emit 1.8 million tonnes of methane in 2021, double what had been officially reported.
Sabina Assan, coal mine methane analyst. (Supplied)
“The coal mine that stands out to everyone is the Hail Creek open pit mine, which I believe emits almost 10 times more for four consecutive years than the mine is actually reporting.” said Dr. Assan.
The Hail Creek Coal Mine is owned by Australia’s largest coal producer, Glencore, and the company has previously told the ABC that it is “unbelievable” that a single mine could be responsible for such a large amount of coal. methane emissions.
“Glencore has an established track record of reducing emissions,” a Glencore spokesman said.
“Over the last decade, our coal business in Australia has reduced 28 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by burning waste gas or converting it into electricity.”
Glencore said emissions from all of its operations were taken into account in its “solid” climate targets.
“These targets include a 15% reduction in total emissions (including scope 3) by 2026, a 50% reduction in total emissions by 2035 and the ambition to be a zero net total emissions company by by 2050, “a spokesman said.
Ember’s report also mentions Anglo American as another major coal miner operating some of Australia’s “most gaseous” mines.
“We are actively working on technology solutions to further reduce methane emissions in our underground metallurgical coal mines, as part of our commitment to exploit carbon-neutral mines by 2040,” said a spokesman for ‘Anglo American.
In 2019, coal mines emitted much more methane than all cars in Australia. (Supplied by: Ember)
What is Coal Methane?
After carbon dioxide, methane is the second largest contributor to global warming.
Coal veins and methane gas occur during the process of geological decomposition and compression of organic matter deep underground, usually for tens of millions of years.
Methane gas is the same as the ‘natural gas’ that gas companies target and is released during coal mining.
Coal methane data:
- Coal methane emissions from Queensland and New South Wales in 2019 were equivalent to 75 million tonnes of CO2, more than three times the emissions of the Australian commercial aviation industry.
- Queensland has the highest number of coal mines in operation in Australia, with 54 mines, accounting for 57.7% of the national coal mine’s methane emissions.
- The two largest methane-emitting mines in Queensland are Capcoal and Moranbah North, which account for about 39% of reported coal methane emissions.
Source: Ember
In open pit coal mining, methane is released when coal veins are broken, and in underground coal mining, methane must be “ventilated” because at high concentrations it is an explosive risk.
Methane can continue to penetrate underground formations and escape for decades after coal mining ends.
Why the discrepancy?
As mentioned, underground coal mines have to control methane because it is an explosive hazard, but measuring methane in large open pit coal mines is more difficult, so it must be estimated using a emission factor.
“So, for example, Queensland will have an average coal methane content, and an Queensland open pit mine will only use that figure to estimate its emissions, but no real measurements are being made,” Dr Assan said.
New IEA data found that methane emissions from coal mines in Australia in 2021 were double what was officially reported.
The other reason the IEA data and coal methane records from the Australian regulator are so different is that it refers to the new satellite information.
“I think the solution really is to combine satellite measurements with real direct measurements on the ground, that’s the only way we can really get a good picture of what’s going on,” Dr. Assan said.
Professor Peter Rayner, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Melbourne, said the discrepancy in methane reports was not necessarily deliberate.
“I think all the operators, and probably the government, are doing things more easily than they can,” said Professor Rayner.
“The problem is not that people are trying to hide this, as much as that people are not doing the little work we need to find out what’s going on.”
The great “short-term impact” of methane
Australia currently measures the potential for global warming of methane for 100 years, but Ember researchers said it did not accurately measure its impact.
“The difference between methane and carbon dioxide is that methane has a much stronger warming effect in the short term compared to carbon dioxide, so it’s about 82 times CO2 for 20 years,” he said. Dr. Asssan.
“It also has a shorter service life, which means cutting methane will now reduce global warming in the short term.”
Hay Point Coal Terminal near Mackay in central Queensland. (ABC News: Nathan Morris)
At the Glasgow climate summit last year, Australia did not join the United States, the EU and more than 100 other countries in signing the Global Methane Pledge to “reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 to 2030 “.
The ABC has contacted Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, but has not received a response.
In addition to the International Energy Agency’s finding that new coal mines cannot be developed if the world wants to reach zero net by 2050, a recent UN report found that coal production is declining. it had to reduce it by 11% every year until 2030 to limit it. global warming to 1.5 degrees.
“However, if Australia proposes it [coal] production capacity is achieved, by 2030 the country will produce more than five times the maximum amount of production to reach a 1.5 degree route by 2030, ”the Ember report said.
By 2030, Australia’s planned coal production would be five times larger than needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. (Offer: Ember)
There are 68 coal projects proposed in New South Wales and Queensland.
Ember’s report found that if these projects were developed, Australia would become “the third potential issuer of new CMMs”. [coal mine methane] emissions after China and Russia “.
Australia Minerals Council Director General Tania Constable said the mining industry was taking action against climate change and was committed to zero net emissions by 2050.
“The Australian coal industry has invested more than $ 30 million to develop guidelines to help the industry meet these requirements for both underground and surface mining,” he said.
“Other coal mining nations don’t do it as thoroughly as Australia.”
Adoption of new technologies
Ember researchers said Australia’s coal industry needed a more robust methane emissions tracking and reporting system, incorporating new satellite monitoring technology.
“New satellites such as EnMAP, Carbon Mapper, CHIME, EMIT and MethaneSat will provide a more complete picture of Australia’s CMM emissions and force improved transparency and methodology,” the report said.
A satellite measurement of methane concentrations in the Bowen Basin, with three identifiable feathers and a close-up [right] of the coal mines located upwind of the plumes. (Supplied with data from Kayrros / Sentinel-5P)
According to the report, there are measures to reduce methane in coal mines.
He argues that ventilated air methane (VAM), which makes up the majority of emissions, should be banned.
“The dominant means to reduce the VAM’s climate impact is to capture gas and extract or destroy methane,” the report says.
“Combustion or passing methane through a flameless oxidizer destroys it and produces CO2 and water.”
The method still produces CO2, but not the most powerful methane.
CSIRO has also developed technologies to capture or limit methane emissions, including a machine that “uses a catalytic combustion gas turbine to create electricity from captured methane.”
“If applied to all underground mines, this technology has the potential to reduce …