The company, which in August abandoned its plan to expand the Dendrobium mine, announced is was committed to decarbonising its operations and achieving net zero for its Scope 3 carbon emissions by 2050.

Its sustainability report, released in September, said the miner would focus its resources to suit a renewable energy economy, and it would concentrate on significant emission reductions at its top four sites.

After shelving the Dendrobium plan, South32 said it could focus on developments which "produce metals critical to a lowcarbon future".

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Coal in the Illawarra will continue to be mined but there would be no new coal mines.

"While we believe metallurgical coal will be required in the steelmaking process for at least the next two decades, until low-carbon steelmaking becomes economically viable on a commercial scale, we will not develop or invest in greenfield metallurgical coal projects," the report stated.

"The premium-quality, hard coking coal that we produce and our investment in our gas capture and emissions abatement technology to lower the intensity of our product can support steelmakers to reduce their emissions intensity.

"While we intend to focus our efforts on optimising Dendrobium and the broader Illawarra Metallurgical Coal complex to extend the mine life within approved mining areas, we will not develop or invest in greenfield metallurgical coal projects."

Just four of South32's operations account for 93 per cent of its carbon emissions - with Illawarra Metallurgical Coal ranked third.

Documents to advance its methane capture project at Appin, in a bid to commercialise the technology industry-wide, have been lodged with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and are expected to go on display in the new year.

"Four of our operations account for 93 per cent of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions: Hillside Aluminium (59 per cent), Worsley Alumina (17 per cent), Illawarra Metallurgical Coal (10 per cent), and Mozal Aluminium (six per cent)," the report stated.

Hillside is in South Africa, Worsley in Western Australia and Mozal in Mozambique.

"Beyond our two largest emitting operations, we are focused on increasing the efficiency of coal seam gas drainage and reducing ventilation air methane (VAM) at Illawarra Metallurgical Coal, through innovative new technologies," the report said.