The Climate Council cited the miner's significant emissions and illegal pollution of Mount Kembla creek with waste from their Dendrobium Mine among the offences landing them on the list.

South32 came under fire from the climate change communications non-profit as part of their campaign for stronger accountability for big polluters in the face of planned changes to strengthen climate policies.

On Tuesday, the federal government announced their plan for stronger penalties for polluters in a reform to the 'safeguard mechanism', which would see companies forced to reduce emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

The safeguard mechanism is among the government's key climate policies, requiring big polluters to keep their emissions below a baseline amount.

South32 spokesperson said the company welcomed the safeguard mechanism reforms, and said delivering on their climate change commitments was "fundamental to their purpose".

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"We will continue to engage with the Australian Government regarding the proposed reforms so they are effective, fit-for-purpose, and enable Government and industry to work together to tackle the critical issue of climate change," the spokesperson said.

According to the Climate Council, South 32 is among the 12 companies that account for more than 40 per cent of all emissions produced within the Safeguard Mechanism.

"A stronger Safeguard Mechanism is essential to force major polluters like South32 to pull their weight on reducing emissions," Head of Advocacy at the Climate Council Dr Jennifer Rayner said

While the Climate Council supported stronger caps on carbon pollution, they said the reform fails to crack down on companies using carbon offsets to "write off" their emissions rather than investing in genuine transformation.

"A major issue that remains to be addressed is the fact that facilities like South 32 can use unlimited offsets to write off all of their emissions, instead of investing in measures that deliver actual emissions reductions," Dr Rayner said.

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A South32 spokesperson said the company is committed to playing their part to address climate change, recently unveiling a Climate Change Action Plan focusing on decarbonising their operations, halving their operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, and achieving net zero operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a spokesperson said.

Industry and other stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the design of the Safeguard Mechanism until 24 February 2023.

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