Australia’s coal mines can deliver two thirds of methane cuts

The report by Ember outlines a pathway for Australia to significantly reduce annual methane emissions from coal mines by 2030. It argues that coal mine methane (CMM) mitigation is a cost-effective and rapid way to meet climate targets, potentially reducing Australia's total annual methane emissions by 18% by 2030.

• Australia could reduce its annual methane emissions by approximately 18% by 2030 through the mitigation of coal mine methane (CMM) alone, which would represent a 77% reduction in CMM emissions.
• Mitigating methane from coal mines is significantly cheaper than mitigating agricultural methane; the average cost for coal mine mitigation is $270 AUD per tonne of methane, compared to approximately $1,200 AUD for agriculture.
• Phasing out all thermal coal mines by 2030 could reduce annual CMM emissions by 40% from 2020 levels, with a total reduction of approximately 470 thousand tonnes of methane emissions each year.
• Preventing the opening of new coal mines or the expansion of existing ones is critical, as proposed mines could increase annual CMM emissions by 50% by 2030, adding 500,000 tonnes per year.
• Implementing mitigation technologies at existing mines could reduce CMM emissions by 370,000 tonnes per year by 2030 at an estimated cost of $99.1 million AUD. This includes improving 'housekeeping' (6% reduction), extensive drainage and VAM capture at 15 gassy underground metallurgical mines (20% reduction), pre-drainage at gassy open-cut mines (8% reduction), and abandoned mine methane mitigation (3% reduction).
• There is evidence that CMM emissions are significantly underreported. The IEA estimates that reported emissions are missing 800 thousand tonnes, and satellite data shows the Hail Creek open-cut mine emits approximately 200,000 tonnes annually, which is 10 times its officially reported amount.

APA

Assan, D. S. (2022). Australia’s coal mines can deliver two thirds of methane cuts. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/10/Report-Australias-coal-mines-can-deliver-two-thirds-of-methane-cuts.pdf

Chicago

Assan, Dr Sabina. Australia’s coal mines can deliver two thirds of methane cuts. Ember, 2022. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/10/Report-Australias-coal-mines-can-deliver-two-thirds-of-methane-cuts.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Assan |first1=Dr Sabina |title=Australia’s coal mines can deliver two thirds of methane cuts |publisher=Ember |date=19 October 2022 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/10/Report-Australias-coal-mines-can-deliver-two-thirds-of-methane-cuts.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{assan2022australias, author = {Assan, Dr Sabina}, title = {{Australia’s coal mines can deliver two thirds of methane cuts}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/10/Report-Australias-coal-mines-can-deliver-two-thirds-of-methane-cuts.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }