Legal Constraints on Australian Coal Mining: The Role of the Paris Agreement

Abstract

This commentary assesses legal constraints on coal-mining in Australia in the context of developments in the climate regime. There is a growing global consensus that unabated coal-power must be phased down, yet executive branches of government at the national and subnational levels in Australia continue to approve new coal mines. This commentary looks to litigation that has challenged the approval of new coal mines on climate change grounds. I analyse how the Paris Agreement is being used in these claims. The Agreement provides background and context to the climate impacts of coal use in several cases. However, in a few cases, decisions to refuse coal mines are underpinned by substantive engagement with the Agreement’s global warming limitation goals. These refusals are significant in an Australian legal context that is otherwise weighted in favour of coal mining.