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Pacific climate campaigners condemn Australia’s 30-year Saraji coal mine expansion – EnviroNews
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350.org Pacific and the Pacific Climate Warriors have condemned the Australian Government’s decision to approve the expansion of the Saraji coal mine, extending its operations by another 30 years and potentially adding an estimated 120 million tonnes of climate pollution.
The Saraji coal mine is located near Dysart in Central Queensland, Australia, within the Bowen Basin.
The decision comes as Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, engages with Pacific leaders, who have repeatedly described climate change as the “single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of Pacific people and communities.”
The open-cut Saraji coal mine, operated by the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), is expected to extract and export an additional 55 million tonnes of coal between now and 2055. Climate campaigners say the move further entrenches Australia’s position as the Pacific region’s largest fossil fuel polluter and the world’s leading coal exporter.
Fenton Lutunatabua, Pacific and Caribbean Programme Lead at 350.org, described the approval as deeply frustrating, particularly amid growing warnings that the world could exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature threshold before the end of the decade.
“It is infuriating,” Lutunatabua said.
“We just learned that the world will breach the 1.5°C limit by the end of the decade, and Australia has again used their geopolitical power to claim that the Pacific does not object to their fossil fuel expansions. We absolutely do object.”
He said the prospect of a global temperature overshoot should intensify efforts to phase out fossil fuels rather than encourage further coal extraction.
“News of a global overshoot should have lit the fire of urgency to phase out fossil fuels; instead, we are watching an extra 55 million tonnes of coal be extracted, exported and burned at the cost of our survival,” he said.
Lutunatabua argued that the interests and survival of Pacific communities must take precedence over corporate profits, noting that BMA had reported record profits in the last financial year.
“We will always maintain that the lives of everyday Pacific people should take priority over the profits of coal and gas CEOs,” he said, questioning whether the survival of small island states should be jeopardised to further enrich fossil fuel companies.
He also referenced discussions at the Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau, where regional leaders stressed the need for ambitious climate action guided by the best available science.
According to Lutunatabua, the latest warnings from the United Nations Environment Programme reinforce concerns that investment in long-lived, high-emission infrastructure could lock the world into continued dependence on fossil fuels and make future emissions reductions increasingly difficult.
350.org Campaigner Jacynta Fa’amau said the environmental and social consequences of coal mining were felt both in Australia, where extraction takes place, and across the Pacific, where communities are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Fa’amau recalled visiting the Saraji mine earlier this year and hearing concerns from First Nations custodians about the impact of mining activities on their lands, waterways and cultural heritage.
“Earlier this year, I stood at the foot of the Saraji mine and listened to the plight of First Nations custodians whose lands, streams and cultural heritage were plundered to make way for BMA’s coal expansion,” she said.
“These coal mines wreak havoc on people and the planet, both at the point of extraction in Australia, and at the point of climate impact in the Pacific.”
She said Pacific climate activists stood in solidarity with Aboriginal and First Nations communities affected by coal mining and questioned Australia’s commitment to climate leadership while continuing to approve fossil fuel projects.
“BMA can absolutely afford to decarbonise their operations but insist on fuelling climate chaos with their coal expansion plans,” Fa’amau said.
“That the Australian government is enabling them, while on the other hand claiming climate leadership at the Pacific Leaders Meeting, is baffling.”
The Saraji coal mine is located on Barada Barna/Wirdi traditional country and is one of 48 active coal mines in Central Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
Campaigners also expressed concern over BMA’s longer-term expansion ambitions, including tentative plans to extend operations at its Peak Downs mine in the Bowen Basin until 2119—around seven decades beyond the global target date for achieving net-zero emissions.
Environmental groups say the Saraji decision highlights what they describe as a widening gap between Australia’s climate diplomacy in the Pacific and its continued support for fossil fuel expansion at home.
