Former Australian chief scientist Alan Finkel has called the High Court's scope 3 ruling a mistake. The court ruled that the NSW regulator had to consider conditions to minimise all greenhouse gas emissions, including indirect scope 3 emissions, when assessing the approved Mount Pleasant thermal coal mine expansion. Finkel argues those downstream emissions come from entities the mine operator does not own or control, and that legally operating plants are a problem for sovereign governments to solve. The ruling matters beyond one coal mine. It changes how state regulators weigh downstream emissions in project approvals, and it puts the spotlight on how Australia accounts for coal and gas exports. Finkel's op-ed is a useful counterpoint, but the practical question is what conditions regulators can actually impose on a mine based on emissions from burning its product elsewhere.
