Qld coalmine expansion approved by Albanese government will clear habitat and fuel climate crisis, scientists say

The Albanese government has approved the expansion of a Queensland coalmine that will clear habitat for threatened koalas and greater gliders and add further fuel to the climate crisis, conservationists say.

The extension of the Middlemount mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin – jointly owned by US company Peabody and China-owned Yancoal – would see about 85m tonnes of coal exported over 24 years.

Conservationists estimated that burning the coal overseas to make steel or electricity would release about 236m tonnes of CO2 over the project’s lifetime – the equivalent of almost half of Australia’s current annual footprint.

About 81 hectares (200 acres) of greater glider habitat and 183 hectares of koala habitat was approved for clearing. Company documents show a 1,557 hectare site has been identified as an area to be secured to “offset” the clearing.

Among a list of conditions imposed by the government designed to limit harm to threatened species, Middlemount has been asked to identify and then relocate any tree hollows used by the gliders.

But ecologists said greater gliders – Australia’s largest gliding marsupial – would probably die because of the clearing and dismissed the plan to relocate their homes.

_{Sign up: AU Breaking News email}

Prof Euan Ritchie, an ecologist at Deakin University, said: “Destroying the equivalent of 40 MCGs worth of greater glider habitat and then attempting to relocate all hollows and claim this somehow offsets the harm to greater gliders is genuinely deluded, and contemptuous.”

He said if it was even possible to safely remove the tree hollows, relocating them would probably change their thermal properties and microclimate, “meaning gliders may no longer find them suitable, and hollows may be located in a tree or part of the tree they don’t prefer”.

“Make no mistake, many greater gliders will die as a result of this action and ridiculous offset measure.

“We can’t keep destroying the homes of threatened native wildlife and say we’re saving them by using ever more absurd and nonsensical mitigation approaches.”

Prof David Lindenmayer, a forest ecologist at the Australian National University, echoed Ritchie’s concerns and said the mine approval “condemns these animals to die”.

Habitat clearing and global heating are among the key threats facing the species, which was designated endangered in 2022 only six years after it first appeared on the national threatened species list.

Middlemount is the second coalmine extension to be approved by the federal government this year after last month’s green light for the Meandu mine in Queensland that provides fuel to Tarong power stations.

Dr Claire Gronow, the central Queensland coordinator for environment group Lock the Gate, said: “With every new or expanded coalmine they approve, the Albanese government is burning our future and burning their own credibility. Now is the time to be implementing an orderly transition away from coal, not approving massive expansions.”

Charlie Cox, a campaigner at the Queensland Conservation Council, said: “The science is unwavering – digging and burning coal is fundamentally changing our climate, driving more frequent rain events and flooding.

“Allowing Yancoal to extract and export another 236m tonnes of climate pollution tells Queenslanders the Albanese government does not care about our safety, our health, or our cost of living.”

A federal government spokesperson said the approval of Middlemount had come with several strict conditions to minimise potential impacts.

“The imposed conditions will ensure protection of water resources and listed threatened species and ecological communities. This includes mitigation measures like pre-clearance surveys, safe fauna crossing areas, defined clearing boundaries, weed and pest animal management, and tree hollow translocation. Offsets for residual significant impacts are also required.”

A statement said the government was “strongly committed to action on climate change and our net zero targets”, adding the mine was already subject to the safeguard mechanism requiring it to reduce greenhouse emissions each year and reach net zero by 2050.

The safeguard mechanism only impacts emissions occurring in Australia. The vast majority of the emissions from the mine will occur when the coal is burned overseas.

The Guardian has approached Yancoal and Peabody for comment.