13th October 2026
The approval of the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) Continuation Project shows that NSW planning rules allow private projects to value emissions differently from government projects, using an approach that doesn’t account for the state’s legislated emissions targets. Glencore, which co-owns HVO with Yancoal, lists on the ASX tomorrow.
ACCR analysis found that valuing HVO’s emissions using NSW Treasury’s target-consistent method would put their cost at $2.3 billion, around 600 times the $3.8 million in the proponent’s assessment. That would reduce the project’s estimated net benefit to NSW by around 40%, although the project would still return a net benefit.
The project will produce over 15 MtCO₂e of emissions in NSW over its life. To stay on track for its legislated targets, NSW will need to find those emissions cuts in other sectors.
The NSW Independent Planning Commission approved the HVO extension to 2045 on 30 September. It found the project delivers economic benefits under the methodology prescribed by the state’s planning guidelines. In its statement of reasons, the Commission concluded that NSW Treasury’s carbon valuation framework is directed to government projects, and does not establish how those costs apply to private developments.
Naomi Hogan, Head of Engagement and Sector Strategy, ACCR, said:
“The Commission applied the rules it was given, and its own reasons show that government projects and private developments count carbon costs differently. The rules are the problem.
“Government projects have to value emissions in line with the cost of meeting NSW’s targets. Private coal projects use an approach that doesn’t. The cost of meeting those targets doesn’t disappear. It lands on every other part of the NSW economy that has to cut harder to keep the state on track.
“With new coal mines banned in NSW, the coal pipeline is now made up of extensions like this one. Unless the rules change, every approval adds to the bill. The NSW Government should bring its planning guidelines into line with Treasury’s valuation framework before any further coal extensions are assessed, so emissions are judged on a consistent basis.
“Glencore is pitching directly to Australian super funds and aims to enter the ASX 200 within 12 months. Once it does, many super members will own a stake through their fund’s index options; whatever their fund’s view on coal. That makes stewardship the question. Every fund should be asking how a holding in one of the world’s largest thermal coal exporters fits its own climate policies, and what it will do as a shareholder to hold Glencore accountable to emissions reduction targets.”