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New analysis by Reliability Watch shows Australia's ageing coal power stations broke down a staggering 128 times over the summer period, eight times more than the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) was expecting.

On average a staggering 5.1 GW of coal fired power station capacity was offline across NSW, Queensland and Victoria from October to March - the equivalent of powering 1.2 million homes. The analysis found a strong correlation between coal breakdowns and high wholesale prices.

Reliability Watch is a new initiative launched by the Queensland Conservation Council, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, and Environment Victoria to live-track the breakdowns of Australia's ageing coal units. The groups point to the report findings as a key reason Australia needs to urgently build new renewable energy and storage supply to replace our ageing coal fleet.

The Queensland Conservation Council says the Crisafulli Government must heed the warnings - and opportunities - presented by a new report from the International Energy Agency's (IEA) which shows that methane emissions from fossil fuels remain dangerously high, and largely avoidable.

The IEA's Global Methane Tracker 2025 finds that methane pollution from fossil fuels are still underestimated, and rising. Methane is a super-pollutant that traps up to 86 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over 20 years.

The IEA also found that around 70% of methane emissions from fossil fuels globally could be avoided with existing technologies at low or no cost. That means a fast and cost-effective way for the Queensland Government to lower climate pollution and protect our communities from climate disasters is to work with the resources sector to improve measurement and abatement of methane pollution.

However, the report also identifies that methane pollution is still underreporting. The Queensland Government has delayed the development of its resources sector decarbonisation plan by nearly another year, from December 2025 to September 2026, despite the resources industry being responsible for a third of Queensland's total climate pollution.

The Queensland Conservation Council today congratulates the Albanese Government for their election victory, and welcomes their commitments to repower Australia’s grid with renewable energy, make household batteries more affordable, and deliver much-need reforms to our broken national nature laws.

Queensland’s peak conservation group says that voters have backed the major party with stronger climate and nature credentials, which should be a lesson for Queensland’s Premier who is currently considering repealing the Sunshine State’s popular renewable and emissions targets.

The Queensland Conservation Council has today raised major concerns with the Queensland Government’s plan to override environment and planning laws for Olympic venues.

This comes as the Crisafulli Government announced the introduction of new legislation that aims to increase the community engagement and benefits of large-scale renewable energy projects.

The Queensland Conservation Council has lodged an objection with the Queensland Land Court (PDF 578k), calling for a recent application for a Bowen Basin coal mine to be refused, due to the proposed project’s environmental impacts, including its contribution to climate change.

The Lake Vermont Meadowbrook Project proposes an extension to the existing Lake Vermont coal mine. The proponent is Bowen Basin Coal Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Jellinbah Group.

According to the proponent’s Environmental Impact Assessment, this project could:

• Pollute at a minimum, 35,000,000 tonnes CO2-e Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, and 313,000,000 CO2-e Scope 3 emissions. This is in addition to the estimated 12,400,000 CO2-e which will still be released from the existing mine
• Clear over 100 hectares of endangered Koala and Greater Glider habitat, and over 200 hectares of Ornamental Snake habitat
• Have downstream risks to the Fitzroy Basin and Great Barrier Reef catchments

Queensland’s peak environment body, represented by Ninox Law, alleges that the proposal fails to appropriately deal with the environmental impacts of the project, including greenhouse gas emissions which put Queenslanders at risk by undermining emissions targets, and impacts to water and habitat.

New coal mines and gas facilities in Queensland have increased carbon pollution by 830,000 tonnes, according to 2023-24 Safeguard Mechanism data.

Overall, emissions under the Safeguard Mechanism in Queensland increased by nearly 400,000 tonnes in 2023-24 to reach 37.5 million tonnes of carbon pollution, or at least 30 per cent of the state’s total emissions. The increase from new coal and gas cancelled out a modest reduction from existing facilities and some closures, compared to 2022-23.

The Safeguard Mechanism is designed to reduce emissions from large facilities, which generate more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) a year, in line with Australia’s 43% emissions reduction target by 2030. Nearly 70 per cent, or 26.5 million tonnes, of Safeguard Mechanism emissions in Queensland are from coal mines and gas facilities, of which nearly half is fugitive methane emissions.

The Queensland Conservation Council is calling for the State Government to stop approving new coal and gas to keep communities safe.

Queensland's peak environment group is alarmed at LNP leader Peter Dutton's comments at last night's leaders' debate, which cast doubt on his understanding and acceptance of climate science and its impact on local communities.

Mr Dutton's comments, that he "doesn’t know" whether climate change is making disasters worse, and that he's "not a scientist" demonstrate a disturbing ambivalence over one of the biggest challenges facing our communities now and for future generations.

Traditional Owners across the Cape York Peninsula have issued a statement calling on LNP Leichhardt candidate Jeremy Neal and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to categorically rule out using Far North Queensland as a potential dumping ground for nuclear waste.

The call follows Mr Neal’s comments on ABC’s AM program last week, where he referenced the need for nuclear waste storage to be somewhere “very remote” and implied his electorate could be on the table.

In a follow-up interview with the Cairns Post, Mr Neal said that while he wasn’t proposing Far North Queensland to host nuclear waste, the decision of where to store waste was one for the Albanese Government.

Traditional Custodians from across the Cape say the comments have raised alarm and want clear assurances that their lands and communities will not be considered at any stage.

The Federal Coalition's much-touted nuclear cost modelling relies on Australia’s electricity demand plummeting due to heavy industry and smelter closures.

The data from the Frontier Economics report being used by the Coalition is based on the Australian Energy Market Operators 'Progressive Change' scenario: a model where Australian heavy industry struggles to remain globally competitive and closes.

The Queensland Conservation Council says this shows once again that nuclear does not make sense for Australia.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton is on track to lose his seat of Dickson, with a new poll showing his nuclear energy policy has dragged him into a losing position against Labor.

The UComms poll, commissioned by Queensland Conservation Council, shows Labor's Ali France ahead of Mr Dutton 52-48 on a two party preferred basis, with 46.7% saying they were less likely to vote for him due to his controversial nuclear energy policy.

The polling also shows 60.9% of Dickson voters believe household solar and batteries are most likely to bring down power bills, with only 39.1% backing nuclear on cost.