Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The New South Wales Minerals Council (NSWMC) is strategically engaged on climate policy and displays largely negative positions. Although NSWMC demonstrates positive top-line messaging on climate, it advocates for a sustained role for coal in the energy mix and appears to assume unsupportive positions on Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism Reforms and the New South Wales Government’s Climate Policy and Action Plan.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: NSWMC’s top-line messaging on climate change appears to be largely positive. The association supported the NSW and Australian Government target of net zero emissions by 2050 in its August 2023 ESG Principles Report, and also supported Australia’s participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in a November 2022 consultation submission. NSWMC appeared to communicate a mixed position on climate change regulation in a February 2023 consultation submission, supporting the need for government policy yet also emphasizing concerns around the ”growing complexity” of climate policy between different levels of government.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: NSWMC displays largely negative engagement with climate-related regulations. The association appeared to advocate for a number of provisions that risk undermining the climate ambition of Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism Reforms in September 2022 and February 2023 consultation submissions, including advocating for the expansion of multi-year monitoring arrangements. NSWMC CEO, Stephen Galilee, also appeared unsupportive of the Safeguard reforms, and Australia’s methane emissions pledge, in a November 2022 press release, stating that such decisions threaten “the competitiveness of the NSW coal export sector, potentially costing jobs, deterring investment, and disrupting energy supply for our key trading partners, all at a time of increasing industry costs”. The NSWMC also appeared to assume a negative position on the NSW Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) Draft Climate Change Policy and Action Plan in its November 2022 consultation submission. The association appeared to call for scope 3 emissions to not be included in NSW regulatory frameworks and also opposed the EPA’s intention to require newly purchased large non-road diesel equipment used on coal mining facilities to meet Tier 4 emissions standards.
In contrast to this negative advocacy, the NSWMC supported the NSW Government’s Net Zero Industry and Innovation Program in a June 2022 consultation submission, stating that “it is essential that all potential emission reduction opportunities across the mining and manufacturing sectors are open for consideration”.
Positioning on Energy Transition: NSWMC advocates a sustained role for coal in the energy mix, while also communicating limited top-line support for the transition to a low carbon economy. As reported in a June 2023 Northern Daily Leader article, CEO, Stephen Galilee, advocated for the continued role for coal in the energy mix, stressing the need for a balanced energy transition while stating that coal mining will be happening in NSW for “some time yet”. Galilee also appeared to promote policy measures enabling the future role of coal in the energy mix in a March 2023 press release, stating that “Whoever forms government following the state election will need to ensure the right policies are in place to support our world-class coal mining sector into the future”.
In contrast to this advocacy, in a June 2022 consultation submission the NSWMC called for policies to recognize a diverse range of technologies to achieve the transition to net zero emissions, including renewables, energy storage, alternative fuels, nuclear and advanced coal technology. However, it did not communicate on the need for a reduced role for coal in the energy mix. In addition, the NSWMC appeared to support the transition to a low carbon economy in its August 2023 ESG Principles Report, stating support for decarbonization policies and programs that are consistent with achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the industry association's scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q1 2024.