Coaltech Research Association

08
CASE STUDY 08 · FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES

The number the sector negotiates from

You cannot manage or defend what you have not measured. With Promethium Carbon we built the coal sector’s first common emissions baseline. 6.73 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, Scope 1 and 2. Measured, not guessed.

2022 to 2026Programme years
Promethium CarbonDelivery partner
Scope 1 and 2Coverage
6.73 Mt CO2eThe baseline
6.73 Mt
CO2 equivalent. The sector-wide Scope 1 and 2 baseline
1 method
applied the same way across the value chain
2 scopes
direct operations and purchased energy
2022
the year the sector stopped estimating
01
The problem

Negotiating blind

Carbon tax. Border adjustments. Financing conditions. Transition plans. Every one of those conversations starts with a number, and until this programme the coal sector’s number was stitched together from estimates and generic factors. You cannot defend an estimate line by line, and in a decarbonising world an industry that cannot defend its number cannot defend itself.

“A sector-wide project launched to tackle carbon emissions across the coal value chain.”
Coaltech Integrated Annual Report 2025/26
02
The research

One method, the whole value chain

We partnered with Promethium Carbon in 2022 and widened the work into a sector-wide project in 2025. One measurement method, applied consistently across the coal value chain, produced the 6.73 million tonne CO2 equivalent baseline for Scope 1 and 2, reported in our 2025/26 Integrated Annual Report. Around it sits the supporting research: the carbon capture and footprint work under E2023-3, and the studies of rehabilitated land as a measurable carbon sink, which connect the emissions ledger to the rehabilitation science.

Promethium Carbon
Carbon measurement and advisory partner.
A. van Zyl
Carbon capture, emissions and footprint research.
Future Technologies Committee
Programme direction.
The other side of the ledger: rehabilitated and agricultural land as measurable carbon sinks. From our 2023/24 Annual Report.
6.73 Mt
CO2 equivalent. The number that turned the sector’s climate position from estimate into evidence.
03
The impact

A position that survives scrutiny

Every member now budgets, discloses and negotiates from the same measured starting point, and the sector speaks with one number where it used to speak with estimates. Reductions can be demonstrated against a real baseline. When the industry says it is managing its footprint, the evidence is a measurement, and we paid for the measuring.

2020
Groundwork
Rehabilitated land assessed for carbon offset and income potential.
2022
The partnership
The emissions management programme begins with Promethium Carbon.
2025
Sector-wide
The project widens across the coal value chain.
2026
The baseline
6.73 Mt CO2e, Scope 1 and 2, established and reported.

The evidence. Every claim traces to a published report.

PDFCarbon capture and footprint reduction through regenerative post-closure agriculture, E2023-3What this report showsA. van Zyl (Terrasim) with S. Christie and T. Knowles (Cirrus Group): mine land as a measurable carbon opportunity.2024Open in the Library →
PDFCoaltech and Promethium Carbon partnership announcementWhat this report showsThe sector-wide programme, launched.2022Open in the Library →
PDFGuideline on rehabbed land as carbon offsetWhat this report showsOffset and income potential of rehabilitated mine land.2020Open in the Library →
PDFIntegrated Annual Report 2025/26, sustainability sectionWhat this report showsThe baseline, formally reported.2026Open in the Library →
Shopping Basket