Middlemount Coal Mine

Middlemount Coal Mine is a coal mining facility operated by Middlemount Coal Pty Ltd in QLD. Like all covered facilities, underground and open-cut coal operations emit methane and energy-related CO₂. Under Australia's Safeguard Mechanism, Middlemount Coal Mine must keep its annual emissions below a stepping-down baseline — or purchase carbon credits to cover any overage.

In 2023–24, Middlemount Coal Mine reported emissions of 268 kt against a baseline obligation of 232 kt — an overage of 35 kt. The facility covered the 35 kt overage by purchasing 35,489 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) — credits generated by carbon abatement projects elsewhere in Australia such as soil carbon farming, avoided land clearing, and landfill gas capture.

Purchasing credits is legal and intended by the Safeguard Mechanism's design — the policy deliberately allows facilities to choose between cutting on-site emissions or funding abatement elsewhere in the economy. Whether credit purchases represent genuine long-term decarbonisation depends on whether the facility's absolute emissions are trending down over time. The chart above shows the trajectory since reporting began. This question applies to all covered facilities under the Safeguard Mechanism, not Middlemount Coal Mine specifically.

Across the coal mining sector, 8 of 8 covered facilities reported emissions above their baseline in 2023–24. The table below compares Middlemount Coal Mine with other coal mining facilities covered by the Safeguard Mechanism.