Australia top court rules against coal mine expansion, citing climate harm

Australia’s highest court has ruled against the expansion of a major coal mine, finding that planning authorities had failed to ensure that emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases would be “minimised to the greatest extent practicable”. Environmental campaigners called Wednesday’s court decision the first climate case to reach the country’s highest court. They said it set a “binding national precedent” requiring climate damage be weighed when fossil fuel projects are considered. In the ruling, three of the High Court’s five judges found that the expansion of the Mount Pleasant mine in New South Wales must be halted.