Another coal approval, more climate harm for Australians

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13TH FEBRUARY 2026

The Albanese Government’s approval of the expansion and extension of Queensland’s Middlemount Coal Mine will lock in millions of tonnes of additional climate pollution and intensify heatwaves, bushfires, floods and cyclones. This is the Albanese Government’s 35th fossil fuel approval.

The approval will allow Middlemount Coal Mine to continue extracting up to 5.7 million tonnes of coal every year until 2053. The extension is expected to emit an additional 283,000 tonnes of climate pollution each year on average, up to 6.1 million tonnes in total – equivalent to taking almost 80 million flights from Sydney to Melbourne.

Climate Council analyst Ben McLeod said: “Every fossil fuel project approval locks in more climate damage and higher costs for Australians.

“This approval moves Australia in the wrong direction. Whenever we add more pollution, here or overseas, we’re adding to the climate damage felt by communities as they reel from record-breaking heat to worsening floods and fires.

“The Albanese Government cannot claim climate leadership while it waves through new fossil fuel approvals. In November 2025, Australia signed onto the Belém Declaration to move away from fossil fuels, yet it keeps approving projects that will pollute for decades.

“Tackling climate change means cutting climate pollution at the source, by phasing down coal, oil and gas production. The path to real climate leadership is clear: stop approving new fossil fuel projects and accelerate the clean energy roll out already underway.”

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