Declining emissions in Australia’s coal sector mask growing offset use

Australia's coal sector saw a decline in methane emissions in FY2025, but this was largely due to mine closures and disruptions at underground sites like Grosvenor. Meanwhile, coal mines increased their use of carbon offsets by 40% to meet Safeguard Mechanism baselines. The report also raises integrity concerns regarding Safeguard Mechanism Credits (SMCs) issued to open-cut mines, suggesting they may result from accounting changes rather than actual emissions reductions.

• Coal mine methane (CMM) emissions in Australia continued a long-term decline in FY2025, with estimated emissions between 22.1 and 22.4 MtCO2e, representing a decrease of approximately 3.5% compared to FY2024.
• The decline in emissions is attributed to operational disruptions and lower production at underground mines rather than on-site abatement. For instance, the Grosvenor mine saw emissions drop by 1.07 MtCO2e after operations were halted for most of the year following an explosion.
• Coal facilities significantly increased their use of carbon offsets to comply with the Safeguard Mechanism (SGM) in FY2025, using approximately 6.3 MtCO2e of offsets, which is a 40% increase from the previous fiscal year.
• There is a mismatch between the types of emissions produced and the offsets used; while methane makes up 61% of coal mining greenhouse gas emissions, over 58% of the Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) used in FY2025 came from CO2-focused projects like avoided deforestation and savanna fire management.
• The issuance of Safeguard Mechanism Credits (SMCs) to open-cut mines, such as Hail Creek and Carmichael, raises integrity concerns because these credits may be the result of accounting methodology changes and baseline settings rather than real abatement.
• Independent measurements suggest significant underreporting of emissions at some sites; for example, satellite observations estimated that emissions at Hail Creek in 2021 were more than 35 times higher than reported values.

APA

Setiawan, D., & Aghdasi, S. (2026). Declining emissions in Australia’s coal sector mask growing offset use. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Declining-emissions-in-Australias-coal-sector-mask-growing-offset-use-1.pdf

Chicago

Setiawan, Dody, and Sougol Aghdasi. Declining emissions in Australia’s coal sector mask growing offset use. Ember, 2026. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Declining-emissions-in-Australias-coal-sector-mask-growing-offset-use-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Setiawan |first1=Dody |last2=Aghdasi |first2=Sougol |title=Declining emissions in Australia’s coal sector mask growing offset use |publisher=Ember |date=30 April 2026 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Declining-emissions-in-Australias-coal-sector-mask-growing-offset-use-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{setiawan2026declining, author = {Setiawan, Dody and Aghdasi, Sougol}, title = {{Declining emissions in Australia’s coal sector mask growing offset use}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Declining-emissions-in-Australias-coal-sector-mask-growing-offset-use-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }