Koalas or coal mines? New report

Download new report

Key Findings:

• There are at least 26 proposed new coal mines that will clear important koala habitat, including 23 projects that are being assessed under the EPBC Act and seeking approval from the Albanese government.

• The 26 coal mining projects plan to clear a combined total of 11,644 hectares of koala habitat if granted approval by the federal government.

• The area of koala habitat proposed to be cleared by the coal mines is equivalent to 116 square kms, 5,822 MCG sized sporting fields, or 41 times the size of Sydney’s CBD.

• The proposed coal projects examined in the report would release an estimated 8.2 billion tonnes of carbon pollution from the burning of the coal they would produce over their lifetime.

Key actions

The report calls on the Albanese government to:

• Reject approvals for new coal mining projects that threaten koala habitat

• Put a moratorium on clearing of koala habitat for all coal projects and review approvals of projects already approved clear koala habitat.

• Commit to a rapid phase out of fossil fuels, to protect endangered species like the koala from climate change.

• Strengthen Australia’s environment laws so they effectively protect threatened species and their habitat and ensure that the climate impacts of fossil fuel projects are assessed and included in decision-making

Main messages:

The Albanese government has identified the two major threats to Australia’s koalas are habitat destruction and climate change. But the Albanese government continues to approve new coal mines that will destroy endangered koala habitat and turbocharge climate change.

 

Coal mines kill koalas in two ways, through directly bulldozing forests and woodlands where koalas live and by producing harmful climate pollution that is heating the planet, causing droughts, bushfires and habitat loss.

 

There are 26 new coal mines that, if approved, would clear more than 11,600 hectares of important koala habitat,equivalent to over 5,800 MCG football fields.

 

The proposed new coal mines that have applied to destroy koala habitat would produce 8.2 billion tonnes of carbon pollution if approved by the federal government, equivalent to the annual emissions of 1.78 billion cars and more climate pollution than Australia has produced in the last decade.

 

Minister Plibersek can protect Australia’s endangered koalas from habitat destruction, and the worsening impacts of the climate crisis by rejecting proposed new coal mines.Protecting koalas from killer new coal mines also helps to protect the iconic species from the impacts of climate change.

 

Australia’s koala populations are facing a perilous future and need to be protected from the two major threats; habitat destruction and climate change. By rejecting proposed coal mines seeking to clear koala habitat Minister Plibersek can address both these threats and protect our iconic koalas from extinction.

 

Minister Plibersek has the power to save thousands of hectares of koala habitat, and stop billions of tonnes of climate-wrecking pollution from cooking the planet. She can and must act now to save Australia’s most iconic animals by rejecting these new koala-killing coal mines.

 

To protect our iconic wildlife from climate change, the Albanese government must stop approving new coal mines. Climate change disasters like droughts and mega fires are already devastating Australia’s koala population. These events are predicted to get worse as pollution from fossil fuel projects continues to warm the planet. We can’t afford to make matters even worse by allowing more climate wrecking coal mines to pollute the climate.

 

Australia’s environment laws need to urgently be strengthened, to protect iconic wildlife like the koala from habitat destruction and to comprehensively assess the climate impacts of new fossil fuel projects. The fact that climate wrecking coal mines can destroy koala habitat and pollute our climate, but still be approved by the Environment Minister highlights just how broken and ineffective Australia’s environment laws are.