New Hope Corporation

Protestors rally outside Queensland’s parliament against the New Acland coal mine expansion. Credit: Lock the Gate

Banks that have loaned to New Hope

In November 2018, a group of five lenders provided a $600 million loan to New Hope, a company still pursuing expansion of the climate-wrecking coal industry. Concerningly, their policies fail to prevent providing further funding to New Hope.

Super funds failing to rule out investment in New Hope

Planning for climate catastrophe

Many of the banks funding New Hope have publicly stated their support for the Paris Agreement and the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The International Energy Agency has confirmed that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 means no new coal mines or expansions can proceed:

The current state of climate science means we should be aiming for net zero emissions far sooner than 2050 if we want to limit global warming to 1.5ºC. To achieve this goal, 95% of Australia’s coal reserves must stay in the ground and global coal production must decrease 11% each year between 2020 and 2030.

In stark contrast, New Hope plans to spend around $900 million on its New Acland Stage 3 coal expansion. New Hope has determined there’s a further 200 million tonnes of coal reserves at New Acland, and Stage 3 would increase the mine’s production capacity to 7.5 million tonnes per year and extend its production life by 12 years.

Beyond New Acland, New Hope has assessed 231 million tonnes of coal reserves at its Lenton, Elimatta and Taroom coal exploration sites. This brings New Hope’s total assessed coal reserves of its potential expansion projects to around 430 million tonnes. If all this coal was burned, it would release 1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions, or nearly twice Australia’s annual CO2 emissions.

These coal reserves are in addition to New Hope’s near 150 million tonnes assessed for the company’s existing Bengalla coal mine, which is licensed to extract up to 15 million tonnes of coal per year until 2039.

New Hope’s coal expansion plans are clearly inconsistent with the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 and the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming limit.

Mining operations at the Bengalla mine. Credit: D Sewell

Coal markets drying up

New Hope derives more than 95% of its revenue from the sale of thermal coal (i.e. coal burned to produce electricity), despite its own claims to be a “diverse” energy company. At the company’s 2021 annual general meeting, New Hope’s chairman confirmed the company’s intention to continue sourcing this level of revenue from coal by 2030.

Almost 80% of the countries where New Hope’s customers are based, mostly in Asia including Japan and Taiwan, have now committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. According to the International Energy Agency, reducing emissions to net zero means unabated coal use (i.e. coal-fired power generation that doesn’t rely on speculative carbon capture and storage technologies) must fall by over 98% between 2021 and 2050. These net zero commitments therefore pose an existential risk to New Hope’s business model.

However, in an apparent failure of climate risk management, New Hope did not refer to the IEA’s net zero scenario even once in its 2021 Sustainability Report. Instead, New Hope refers only to the IEA’s Stated Policies Scenario (consistent with around 2.7ºC of global warming) and Sustainable Development Scenario (consistent with net zero emissions by 2070).

Destroying prime farmland and local communities

The New Acland Stage 3 expansion is one of the most contested coal mining projects in Australian history.

The mine is situated in Queensland’s fertile Darling Downs, on and around land considered as among the best 1.5% of agricultural land in Queensland. New Hope’s Stage 3 expansion would dig three vast new coal pits, destroying land that has sustained generations of dairy and cattle farmers.

Aside from the physical destruction of this prime farming land, there is deep community concern about the impact of the mine on local groundwater aquifers. According to the Oakey Coal Action Alliance, around 20,000 hectares of cropping land surrounding the mine is at risk of permanent groundwater impacts. Despite several rounds of water modelling revisions, expert scientists remained unconvinced by New Hope’s final water management plans.

Large coal mines pose a huge threat to our water sources. At a time when droughts are being turbo-charged by global warming, there is no justification for allowing massive new coal pits on prime agricultural land.

The New Acland coal mine on Queensland’s fertile Darling Downs. Credit: Lock the Gate

Source: Compiled from Electoral Commission Queensland, Election Summary Return – New Hope Corporation Limited (May 2021).

Breaking the law

New Hope’s operations at New Acland have a history of breaking environmental laws. In 2018, the company was fined by the Queensland government for drilling 27 illegal water bores. In 2020, documents obtained under freedom of information laws revealed New Hope had been caught breaking noise limits on its operations 34 separate times in a 10 week period. As of December 2021, New Hope remained under investigation by the Queensland Government for allegedly mining $500 million worth of coal outside its approved open-cut pit boundaries.

This dirty coal corporation simply can’t be trusted – with our climate, water or environmental laws. It’s time for New Hope’s banks to walk away.

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