Gujarat NRE has been slugged with an $8.4 million charge for failing to account for thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Federal regulators revealed the charge on the Illawarra-based longwall mine operator on Friday after it did not report
a single carbon unit by the June 17 deadline.
Two companies in the Indian coal group, Gujarat NRE Coking Coal and Gujarat NRE Wonga, failed to provide the carbon units, as required by the Clean Energy Regulator, and were subsequently hit with the shortfall charge.
Gujarat NRE Coking Coal was ordered to pay $7,020,520 for 234,800 carbon units while Gujarat Wonga, the group’s Wongawilli mine, incurred a charge of $1,356,862, equivalent to 45,830 carbon units.
Regulators told Gujarat it had to pay the shortfall by June 24 or it would start accruing interest, to the tune of a further 20 per cent per annum.
A Clean Energy Regulator spokesman yesterday said if Gujarat did not pay, regulators would pursue a formal debt recovery process.
Gujarat was one of only four companies that missed the June 17 deadline, which was met by more than 370 other big emitters.
South Australian soda ash manufacturer Penrice Soda Products incurred a $1.9 million charge while mining magnate Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel was hit with a $6.1 million fee.
The price on carbon was applied to Australia's biggest polluters from July last year, requiring companies to report on and pay a price for their carbon pollution.
Gujarat was included in the Clean Energy Regulator's list of big emitters in May last year.
Companies had to pay an amount to cover 75 per cent of their yearly emissions by June 17.
The regulator's spokesman said it had worked closely with Gujarat to ensure it had the information needed to meet its obligations.
Gujarat has to report its full year emissions number by October 31.
Gujarat NRE was unavailable for comment yesterday afternoon.