Centennial Coal vastly underestimates carbon emissions from major mine projects

10 May 2020

Centennial Coal vastly underestimates carbon emissions from major mine projects over 10 years

The company that supplies a third of the coal burned in NSW has under-estimated by up to 97% the carbon emissions associated with its mines, research by the Nature Conservation Council has found.

Analysis of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIS) submitted by Centennial Coal to the NSW Planning Department over 10 years shows a pattern of massive underestimation of Scope 3 emissions. (See below for an explanation of Scope 3 emissions.)

Just last month, the company submitted an environmental assessment for its Angus Place Coal Mine Expansion near Lithgow that underestimated Scope 3 emissions by 97%.

Calculating downstream (scope 3) emissions from mines is pretty straightforward. Every tonne of NSW black coal burned generates 2.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide. To estimate the emissions of a mine’s output, you simply multiply the tonnes of coal coming out by 2.4. But Centennial Coal consultants have been using factors as low as 0.08, 0.23, and 0.81.

“We have written to the Planning Department asking it to investigate whether an offence has been committed under the EP&A Act by reporting incorrect information,” said Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian.

“Providing misleading information in an EIS process is an offence under the EP&A Act, with a maximum penalty of $1 million for corporations and $250,000 for individuals. [1]

“The Angus Place EIS rang alarm bells so we looked more closely at documents the company had submitted in support of its other coal projects.

“We were shocked to find Centennial had submitted incorrect greenhouse reports on five of its projects, three of which have already been approved.

“A similar error occurred across reports prepared by three different environmental consultants used by Centennial Coal from 2010 to 2020.

“The coal company used these incorrect numbers to claim its climate impacts were negligible.

“In reality, these coal mines are contributing significantly to the mounting loss of life and property from extreme bushfires, floods and heat waves.

“It’s time to start accounting for climate impacts properly and stop opening and expanding coal mines.

“These errors follow revelations that coal industry consultants have been routinely falsifying coal quality reports. Earlier it was revealed a whopping 45% to 50% of export coal quality certificates issued by consultancy ALS Ltd since 2007 were falsified. [2]

“At the same time, the coal lobby has been pressuring the government to remove downstream emissions considerations from the NSW planning process altogether — an omission that would severely hinder planning authorities from assessing the full impacts of coal mines.”

Angus Place Coal Mine Expansion Project Scope 3 Emissions

	Reported	Actual [3]	Difference	Under-estimation
Scope 3 CO2 emissions, (million tonnes per year)	0.36	11	10.64	97%
As % of NSW total emissions [4]	0.27%	8.5%	8.23%	97%

Centennial Coal historical claimed Scope 3 emissions vs actual [5]

Project name Date submitted Consultant	Run-of-mine coal (Mt CO2 /yr)	Centennial’s Scope 3 emissions estimation (Mt CO2 /yr)	Correct Scope 3 emissions estimation (Mt CO2 /yr)	Emissions Factor used	Under-estimation
Angus Place Extension Amendment [6] 2020 EMM Consulting	4.5	0.36	11	0.08	97%
Springvale Mine Extension (approved) [7] 2015 SLR Consulting Australia	4.5	1.18	11	0.23	90%
Angus Place Extension [8] 2014 SLR Consulting Australia	4	0.94	9.6	0.24	90%
Airly Expansion Project (approved) [9] 2014 SLR Consulting Australia	1.8	0.42	4.3	0.24	90%
Mandalong Southern Extension [10] 2013 GSS Environmental	6	14.3	14.3	2.4	-
Myuna Coal Mine [11] 2012, AECOM	2	4.8	4.8	2.4
Awaba Extension Project (approved) [12] 2010 GSS Environmental	0.88	0.71	2.1	0.81	66%

About Centennial Coal

https://www.centennialcoal.com.au/About-Us/Who-We-Are

Scope 3 emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions are categorised into three 'scopes'. Scope 1 emissions are produced directly by the activity of a business; Scope 2 are produced indirectly as a result of the consumption of electricity etc. by the business; and Scope 3 emissions arise along the value chain associated with a business but are not produced by that business. In the context of coal mines, Scope 3 emissions are mostly generated when the coal is burned by the end user.

References

[1] EP&A Act Section 10.6, Penalties

[2] Rumpelstiltskin in the coal lab: $70b dilemma of 'fake' tests, Australian Financial Review, 27 April 2020

[3] Using NSW black coal energy content of 27 GJ/t, and the emissions factor from burning this coal of 90.23 kg CO2e/GJ as per Table 1, National Greenhouse Accounts Factors, Department of the Environment and Energy, August 2019. The proponent states that 100% of coal produced at Angus Place will be burned at the Mt Piper Power Station near Lithgow (i.e,. salable coal = run of mine coal).

[4] NSW total emissions in calendar year 2017 were 129 Mt CO2e according to the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

[5] Centennial Coal’s Scope 3 emissions reports are from Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental Assessments and associated consultant’s reports on the NSW Major Projects website. Centennial’s consultants assume that salable coal is approximately equal to run-of-mine coal, as estimates of salable coal are not provided. We follow this assumption. All documentation available at https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects and links below. NCC calculations as per [1] above.

[6] Angus Place Extension Amendment Report, Appendix K, 2020. Run-of-mine coal from page 55, scope 3 emissions from page 57 (link)

[7] Springvale Extension EIS, 2015, page 434, (link)

[8] Angus Place Extension EIS Appendix M, 2014, page 71, (link)

[9] Airley Extension Project EIS Chapter 10, 2014, page 430-431 (link)

[10] Mandalong Southern Extension EIS, Appendix Q GSS Environmental 2013, page 28, (link).

[11] Myuna Coal Mine EIS, Appendix N, AECOM 2012, page 15 (link)

[12] Environmental Assessment the Awaba Colliery Mining Projects, 2010, page 146-147 (link)