Submission to the Review of Australia’s Coal Mine Waste Gas method

The document provides a submission to the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) regarding the review of the Coal Mine Waste Gas (CMWG) method. Ember argues that the CMWG method is a critical supplementary incentive for decarbonising the resource sector, particularly for metallurgical coal, and should be extended beyond 2025. The submission specifically advocates for expanding the method's eligibility to include open cut mines, as current regulatory frameworks like the Safeguard Mechanism may perversely reward lower-emitting open cut mines. Ember also suggests improving measurement and verification by moving away from state-based emissions factors toward site-specific measurements and top-down verification. Additionally, the document proposes that the CMWG could help manage increasing electricity demand in the mining sector by using waste gas to 'firm' renewable energy output and could potentially incentivise the mitigation of abandoned mine methane.

• Since 2015, the CMWG method has facilitated 15 registered projects that mitigated 2.78 million tonnes of CO2-e, with 10 of these located in Queensland focusing on electricity displacement using fugitive methane at metallurgical coal mines.
• The Safeguard Mechanism may fail to incentivise fugitive methane reductions at open cut mines because its dynamically adjusted baselines may "perversely reward" mines with emissions intensities below the sectoral average, which includes the majority of open cut mines in Queensland and New South Wales.
• The shift to site-specific measurement of fugitive methane (Method 2) under NGER scheme reforms increases the potential for CMWG uptake in open cut mines, particularly in Queensland where 72 per cent of fugitive emissions were previously reported using state-based averages (Method 1).
• CMWG-powered plants could support the energy transition by providing electricity to ensure grid reliability and "firming" renewable output, addressing the rising electricity demand in the mining sector as processes become more electrified.
• Current methane measurement practices are considered "disorderly" by the Climate Change Authority; Ember recommends combining geotechnical cores with top-down verification, such as satellite or drone-based remote sensing, to ensure abatement integrity.
• Targeted VAM (ventilated air methane) mitigation projects at the 12 highest emitting mines in Queensland could potentially reduce an additional 10 million tonnes of CO2-e beyond existing Safeguard requirements.

APA

Wright, C. (2024). Submission to the Review of Australia’s Coal Mine Waste Gas method. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/02/CMWG-Method-Submission-2025.pdf

Chicago

Wright, Christopher. Submission to the Review of Australia’s Coal Mine Waste Gas method. Ember, 2024. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/02/CMWG-Method-Submission-2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Wright |first1=Christopher |title=Submission to the Review of Australia’s Coal Mine Waste Gas method |publisher=Ember |date=4 February 2024 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/02/CMWG-Method-Submission-2025.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wright2024submission, author = {Wright, Christopher}, title = {{Submission to the Review of Australia’s Coal Mine Waste Gas method}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2024}, month = feb, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/02/CMWG-Method-Submission-2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }