Regulating greenhouse gas emissions from Australian coal mines

This article explores the evolving response to climate change in Australia, focusing on the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from Australian coal mines. It considers key science and the current regulatory regime as a basis for anticipating likely future trends in the regulatory regime. It concludes that the regulation of direct and indirect emissions is likely to escalate rapidly in the future. One of the major trends is that the legal system will increasingly move to attributing legal liability for climate change based on activities directly or indirectly emitting greenhouse gases without needing to establish a causal link to any specific or discernible environmental impact. Another major trend that can be anticipated is that coal mines will be required to assess direct and indirect emissions. Regulation of emissions from the use of coal mined in Australia remains a live issue. Mandatory requirements for carbon capture and storage of emissions from coal is a logical step for the future regulatory regime