Australia High Court: Coal mine approvals must account for scope 3 emissions

Australia's High Court ruled in a 3-2 decision that NSW planning authorities must consider scope 3 emissions when approving coal and gas projects. The case involved MACH Energy's Mount Pleasant coal mine expansion in the Hunter Valley. The court said emissions from burning coal overseas have the same climate impact and cannot be treated as someone else's problem. The approval was invalidated and sent back to the Land and Environment Court. The ruling directly affects 17 other coal proposals in NSW. Developers now need to show how they will cut downstream emissions, which may mean buying offsets or facing expensive conditions. It follows similar rulings in Norway and the UK and gives community groups a clear legal basis to challenge weak assessments. For anyone tracking carbon policy, this is a concrete shift in how fossil fuel projects get evaluated. Scope 3 emissions are no longer an optional extra in NSW approvals, and other states are likely to watch the outcome closely.