The International Energy Agency has stated that the single most effective measure that can be taken now to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the near and medium term is to reduce methane emissions.

Coal mining is a significant source of methane emissions, and a substantial proportion of NSW’s methane emissions, but methane emissions from coal mines are barely regulated in NSW. Currently, methane emissions from NSW coal mines are not controlled at all under environmental protection licences, and are only regulated on paper under development consents.

A business-as-usual approach to the regulation of existing, proposed, and decommissioned coal mines is incompatible with legislated emissions reduction targets and with the NSW Government policy that all sectors ratchet down emissions to meet those targets.

There are however a number of actions that regulators can take right now, under the existing regulatory framework, to materially reduce the emission of coal mine methane, therefore making a significant contribution to meeting NSW legislated emissions reduction targets.

This report sets out a number of recommendations for the regulation of methane emissions from existing coal mines in NSW. Most of these recommendations can be implemented without any legislative change using statutory powers and the legal framework that is currently in place.