The Clean Energy Regulator says Peabody Energy has been filing inaccurate emissions reports. 

Peabody, a US coal mining giant, has repeatedly submitted incorrect greenhouse gas emissions reports to the Australian government, according to the regulator. 

The company has made a series of calculation errors, engaged in poor record-keeping and inconsistent data collection and analysis.

The mistakes have led to both under- and over-reporting of emissions from the underground Wambo coal mine in New South Wales. 

The figures were out by more than 51 per cent of the total emissions from the site, although the under- and over-reporting largely cancelled each other out. The submitted total was 5.4 per cent lower than what it should have been.

Peabody is Australia’s fifth-biggest coal miner. It runs two thermal coal mines (used for electricity generation) and five metallurgical coal mines (for steelmaking). 

The company has now agreed to hire an external consultant to compile its emissions reports, and bring in independent auditors to examine its mines and other facilities.

Peabody says that it “at all times genuinely sought” to act in compliance with relevant acts.