On September 18, 2019, the Independent Planning Commission of New South Wales rejected KEPCO Bylong Australia's application to build the Bylong Valley coal mine on several grounds, including its contribution to climate change. The Commission's grounds of refusal included the failure to develop a plan to manage the Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project and the fact that "the distribution of costs and benefits over and beyond the life of the mine [was] temporally inequitable in that the economic benefits accrue to the current generation and the environmental, agricultural and heritage costs are borne by future generations."

KEPCO, a major Korean utility company, appealed the decision in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court on December 16, 2019. After the Commission declined to participate in the proceedings, the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, a community group, successfully intervened and was joined as a second respondent.

On December 18, 2020, the Court rejected KEPCO's appeal, upholding the Independent Planning Commission's findings that the mine was contrary to the principles of ecologically sustainable development and would have problematic climate impacts.

On March 19, 2021, KEPCO subsequently submitted another appeal to the NSW Court of Appeal. On August 25, 2021, the Court dismissed the appeal. The Court found that the Commission had adequately found that KEPCO had not proposed to minimize GHG emissions and that the State Climate Change Policy concerning GHG emissions was applicable. 

On October 14, 2021, KEPCO applied for special leave to appeal the decision to the High Court in a final bid to overturn the refusal. The High Court declined to grant special leave, meaning KEPCO has exhausted all legal avenues to challenge the refusal. 


KEPCO Bylong Australia v. Independent Planning Commission and Bylong Valley Protection Alliance

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

KEPCO Bylong Australia v. Independent Planning Commission and Bylong Valley Protection Alliance - judgment

Filed

Australia

New South Wales

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A company that is owned wholly or partially by the state, typically operating in key sectors.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

KEPCO Bylong Australia v. Independent Planning Commission and Bylong Valley Protection Alliance - judgment

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance