The Guardian
· collected 2026-09-30 · by Graham Readfearn Environment and climate correspondent
The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission has approved the largest coalmine project in its history, allowing mining at the Hunter Valley Operations site until 2045 despite concerns from climate groups. The decision drew over 10,000 public submissions and was seen as conflicting with Australia’s Paris Agreement commitments by environmental campaigners who describe it as a "carbon bomb" contributing to global warming. Georgina Woods of Lock the Gate Alliance called the approval an "infamous betrayal," criticizing the failure to protect against climate impacts while emphasizing economic benefits like employment and revenue for the Hunter region.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-30,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The New South Wales independent planner has approved the biggest coalmine project to ever go before it, allowing mining to continue until 2045 at a Hunter Valley project described by climate groups as a “carbon bomb”.
asserted
mining → approve → bomb
The Independent Planning Commission (IPC) has greenlit the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) Continuation Project after a contentious assessment that drew in climate and environment groups, unions, state authorities and more than 10,000 public submissions.
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that → greenlit → groups
On Wednesday, the commission said the greenhouse gas emissions from the mine, near Singleton, would “contribute to climate change impacts on the people, economy and environment of the Hunter region, NSW and globally”.
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emissions → say → region
But these impacts had been “outweighed by its benefits to the Hunter region and NSW, including continued employment, economic activity, support for local business, ongoing royalties and taxation revenue”.
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impacts → outweigh → business
The IPC said the decision would “provide economic stability for the Hunter region and support a more orderly transition for workers, businesses and communities as the coal industry changes over time”.
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industry → say → time
In response, Georgina Woods, the co-national coordinator of the Lock the Gate Alliance, said: “There is no other way to describe this other than a catastrophic failure of the New South Wales planning system to protect the people of the state from the worst impacts of global warming.”
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Woods → say → warming
Climate campaigners had strongly opposed the project, saying it was out of line with Australia’s commitments under the Paris climate agreement and could affect extreme weather events.
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it → oppose → events
Groups reacted with dismay at the approval, with Rising Tide describing it as the “largest climate policy failure in NSW history”.
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Tide → react → history
The Climate Council had described the project as a “climate bomb that would supercharge climate disasters”.
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that → describe → disasters
One of its councillors – the former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner Greg Mullins – on Wednesday raised concerns over overseas emissions from the coal.
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One → raise → coal
“What NSW exports as coal, we import back as bushfires, floods, heatwaves and droughts,” Mullins said.
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Mullins → export → bushfires
“Climate harm does not stop at the border, and neither does the responsibility for it.”
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responsibility → stop → it
Woods said the process for considering fossil fuel projects in NSW was “the best in the country” – including with its climate change act and an independent and transparent planning authority.
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process → say → act
It will go down in history as an infamous betrayal of the public trust.”
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It → go → trust
Glencore and Yancoal – the joint owners of HVO – want to continue digging coal at the north mine site until 2045, and mine from 2030 to 2042 at the south mine.
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Glencore → want → mine
The IPC said HVO would have to prepare a plan to manage the emissions from burning the coal overseas that would limit exports to “jurisdictions with greenhouse gas emissions policies consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement”.
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that → say → Agreement
The project also requires federal environmental approval – a process expected to be decided before the end of the year.
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project → require → year
HVO said coal had been mined at the site for 75 years and the project, which it said had strong local support, provided jobs for 1,500 people.
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it → say → people
The state’s independent Net Zero Commission had warned the planning commission that approving the project could affect the state’s ability to meet climate targets in the future.
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approving → warn → future
Over the life of the project, the company has estimated that 809m tonnes of CO2-equivalent will be released into the atmosphere.
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tonnes → estimate → atmosphere
About 794Mt of that will be emitted when the coal is burned overseas, 87% of which will come from power plants, according to presentations HVO made to the IPC.
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HVO → emit → IPC
The Net Zero Commission recommended the planning authority should consider all of the impacts from the mine’s greenhouse gases, including from the burning of the coal in power stations overseas, and pointed to advances in climate science that can attribute real-world impacts to fossil fuel projects.
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that → recommend → projects
A new tool released by climate scientists this week suggested the additional global heating caused by the project’s approval would expose almost half a million people to unprecedented heat, kill nearly 15 million coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef every time it bleaches and lead to more than 100 additional deaths from heatwaves in Europe to the end of this century.
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it → release → century
The NSW Nature Conservation Council’s chief executive, Jacqui Mumford, said the decision was Chris Minns’ “biggest climate failure” as premier and highlighted the government’s “complete inability to appropriately respond to the ever-growing climate crisis”.
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decision → say → crisis
The NSW state Greens MP Sue Higginson said the approval was an “absolute betrayal of the science”, saying she “wouldn’t be surprised if the decision is challenged in the courts”.
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decision → say → courts
HVO said the approval “marked a pivotal milestone for 1,500 mine workers, their families and the regional economy”.
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approval → say → workers
It said the company was engaging with the national environmental protection agency to secure federal approval “by the end of December 2026 to continue operations”.
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company → say → operations
The NSW Minerals Council urged the state government to pass legislation to limit the opportunity for a “legal challenge from climate activists determined to object to every coal mining approval on ideological grounds”.
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Council → urge → grounds
The Aporia
