Author: Oliver Milman
Source: The Guardian [1]
September 18, 2012

"Plans to open up a new Australian "coal export rush" would turn a single Queensland region into the seventh largest contributor of carbon dioxide emissions on the planet, undermining international efforts to keep global warming below 2C, a new report has warned.

Nine proposed "mega mines" in the Galilee Basin would, at full capacity, result in 705m tonnes of CO2 released into the atmosphere, according to a Greenpeace Australia analysis. This level of emissions would surpass those of all but six nations in the world. By comparison, the UK emitted 549.3 million tonnes of CO2 from all sources in 2011.

Greenpeace said that the nine mines' production capacity of 330m tonnes of coal a year for export would represent an "unprecedented" increase in the scale of coal mining in Australia. The mines' maximum output, primarily aimed at servicing the burgeoning Chinese and Indian markets, would nearly double Australia's total 2010/11 coal production of 352m tonnes and eclipse its export total of 283m tonnes."

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