“In the absence of specific policy on impacts, standards, mitigation or offsets, the department has assessed the project’s greenhouse gas emissions in a holistic way with reference and comparison to other recent project consents,” the 146-page report notes.

“While recent policy changes and updates appear to emphasise and reiterate the need for action on greenhouse gas emissions at a broad scale, there is no clear policy guidance requiring drastic changes to the approach that has been adopted in recent coal mine assessments.

“Consequently, the department has focused on incremental improvements that build on those recent assessments and are targeted at the specific characteristics of the project and its emissions.”

Despite these concerns, the department approved the project, noting “on balance ... the project’s benefits significantly outweigh its residual costs, and that it is in the public interest and is approvable, subject to the recommended conditions”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said its “assessment was informed by evidence that NSW is on track to meet its target to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030”.

Ms Schoo said the approval process was “nonsensical”. Instead, a clear framework mandating mitigation technology was needed to make meaningful emissions reductions.

“[The framework] should ask fossil fuel companies to apply a hierarchy in environmental assessment reports and show decision-makers that they have avoided emissions where possible, are mitigating those emissions they can’t avoid and are offsetting the rest,” she said. “This principle applies to other impacts, such as clearing of native vegetation.”

Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Georgina Woods said there were several gaps in the approval process. While the direct and indirect emissions of any coal or gas mine have been considered in granting approval since 2007, there lacked a framework that outlined how many greenhouse gas emissions were unacceptable.

“The NSW government is committed to reducing emissions by end of the decade ... we need a framework so the government can show how the mining industry contributes to the NSW trajectory towards net-zero,” Ms Woods said. “If the mining industry increases greenhouse gases, it increases the burden on other sectors to make up [for it].”

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“If there was a framework and this project was within a framework and we knew where we were going [in terms of the net-zero trajectory], then maybe it could be approved. But in the absence of a framework, it is more important than ever to refuse this.”

Ms Woods said while she remained hopeful the government could introduce such a framework, it would be too late for it to consider the impact of already approved projects.

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