Australia's methane emissions from coal mines are twice as high as national estimates, with some mines leaking up to 10 times more methane than officially reported, research by an international climate think tank has found.
European-based researcher Ember was commissioned by the environmental group, Lock the Gate Alliance, to analyse available data on methane emissions from the Australian Greenhouse Emissions Information System (AGEIS), the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), the Australian Chief Economist, Department of Natural Resources and Mines, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Global Energy Monitor.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and its global warming potential is more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide.