The Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (DAMS HEG) has achieved a major legal victory in its long-running battle against the expansion of one of New South Wales’ largest coal mines, after the NSW Court of Appeal yesterday overturned regulatory approval for MACH Energy’s Mt Pleasant Coal mine expansion near Muswellbrook.
The judgment was delivered by the President of the NSW Court of Appeal at 9:30 am, 24 July 2025, in Sydney.
This pivotal decision determines how the NSW government must address Scope 3 emissions — those produced when exported coal is burned overseas — in the approval process for new and expanded coal projects.
Scope 3 emissions from exported coal are the country’s largest contribution to global climate harm.
NSW is Australia’s second biggest coal exporter, after Queensland.
DAMS HEG argued that the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) “failed to consider climate impacts” when approving Indonesian company MACH Energy’s proposed doubling of production at the Mt Pleasant site in 2022, a project that would have allowed extraction of up to 21 million tonnes of coal per year until 2048, resulting in approximately 876 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution.
The expansion also threatens the habitat of the recently discovered Hunter Valley delma, a legless lizard now listed as a threatened species.
A previous attempt by DAMS HEG to seek judicial review was rejected by the NSW Land and Environment Court in 2024, prompting the group to escalate the matter to the Court of Appeal.
Yesterday’s decision found that the IPC’s approval process was fundamentally flawed by its failure to adequately assess downstream emissions.
The court ruled that there was “nothing” in the IPC’s reasoning showing it had accepted that scope 3 emissions would contribute to global climate change, and as such, the planning approval was invalidated.
DAMS HEG president Wendy Wales said: “The burning of fossil fuels like thermal coal mined at Mt Pleasant is destabilising the earth’s climate equilibrium.
“Stable, habitable weather conditions that have allowed humanity to flourish over millennia are at breaking point.
Wales expressed that it is unjust for a small community group like DAMS HEG to bear the burden of addressing such a vast global challenge.
Nevertheless, due to ineffective government action to protect against climate harm from coal mining, they feel obligated to stand up for future generations, the public interest, the rule of law, and the natural world.
She highlighted that New South Wales communities are already facing unprecedented and severe climate disasters, with the natural environment disappearing rapidly.
Wales insisted that the expansion of MACH Energy’s Mt Pleasant coal mine must be rigorously evaluated according to legal standards, as the wellbeing of their communities and the climate rely on it.
Australian environmental lawyer and Johnson Legal Director, Elaine Johnson, said: “Residents of NSW have suffered multiple catastrophic climate events in recent years, including extreme floods, bushfires and drought.
“Our client alleges that the Independent Planning Commission failed to consider the impacts of climate harm on the people and environment of NSW when deciding whether to approve the Mount Pleasant coal expansion.
“DAMS HEG also says that the Commission was required to consider imposing conditions on the mine that would minimise exported greenhouse gas emissions, and failed to do so.
“Our client has brought its case to the highest court in NSW, seeking a determination on the responsibility of the NSW Government to minimise climate harm from greenhouse gas emissions when deciding whether to approve more fossil fuel extraction.
Johnson explained that current scientific evidence clearly indicates that to have any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in accordance with the Paris Agreement, remaining coal reserves must remain unexploited.
Despite this, policymakers in NSW continue to approve the expansion of coal mines, with the Mount Pleasant project being the largest.
She noted that the upcoming court decision will establish whether the NSW government is legally obligated under its planning regulations to take into account the effects of coal mine expansions on the state’s people and environment, and to reduce climate damage related to Scope 3 emissions.
Yesterday’s decision halts the Mt Pleasant expansion and sets a significant legal precedent for approving future coal projects in NSW, forcing authorities to confront the full scope of climate impacts stemming from coal exports.
