These residents stopped a coal mine, made history and sent ripples through boardrooms around the world

NSW court sent shock waves through the nation's mining industry earlier this month when it rejected a coal mine planned in Gloucester, a dairy and beef farming area on the state's mid-north coast. The reason, in part, was the mine's impact on climate change.

Gloucester residents after their win in a NSW court against
 the proposed Rocky Hill open-cut coal mine in Gloucester. 

That a court had taken into account climate change was lauded as a landmark. But this case is just part of a much bigger picture. All around the world, there is a growing push to use the law to nudge companies and investors to take action to curb global warming – particularly as our politicians are failing to do so.

It's called climate litigation and you can expect to start hearing about it more often.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hannam - “These residents stopped a coal mine, made history and sent ripples through boardrooms around the world.”

Rocky Hill mine plans quashed in Land and Environment Court

A new coal mine near Gloucester on the NSW mid-north coast has been refused by the Chief Justice of the Land and Environment Court, who ruled the development would increase greenhouse gas emissions at time when they urgently need to be cut.

Members of the community group Gloucester Groundswell attended the hearing.

Gloucester Resources Limited took the NSW Planning Minister to court over the matter after his delegate, the Independent Planning Commission, rejected the company's application for the Rocky Hill mine in late 2017.

The company argued the development would have created 170 jobs, with the mine expected to produce 21 million tonnes of coal over 16 years.

Read the ABC News story by Meredith Griffiths - “Rocky Hill mine plans quashed in Land and Environment Court.”