Does the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) give an emission factor for coal mine fires or burning coal dumps?

There is no standard emission factor, and the IPCC 2006 Guidelines give no method for surface dump fires or abandoned underground mine fires. Where tonnes of coal burned are known, Section 4.1.6 says to estimate carbon dioxide from the coal's carbon content. Any other supplier figure is its own estimate and should be labelled so.

What the Guidelines list and leave out

• Table 4.1.1 includes code 1B1b for carbon dioxide (CO2) from uncontrolled combustion: "Includes emissions of CO2 from uncontrolled combustion due to coal exploitation activities." So the source is recognised.
• Surface mines: "Uncontrolled combustion in waste piles is a feature for some surface mines. However, these emissions, where they occur, are extremely difficult to quantify and it is infeasible to include a methodology." Waste pile and overburden dump fires are in the completeness list, but "At present only the first two sources above are taken into account."
• Abandoned underground mines: "there are currently no methodologies for estimating potential emissions from uncontrolled combustion".
• Low temperature oxidation of coal: no methods are provided for underground mines, and for surface mines the emissions are expected to be insignificant.
• Abandoned surface mines: the emissions (standing highwall, pit floor leakage, low temperature oxidation, uncontrolled combustion) have "no comprehensive methods" to quantify them.
• Section 4.1.6 says emissions from burning coal deposits "may be significant for an individual coal mine" and that there are "no clear methods available at present to systematically measure or precisely estimate the activity data".

When the tonnes burned are known

Section 4.1.6 adds: "where countries have data on amounts of coal burned, the CO2 should be estimated on the basis of the carbon content of the coal and reported in the relevant subcategory of 1.B.1.b." It also says care should be taken to avoid double counting with the methane and low temperature oxidation CO2 lines. Our reading: for a mine, that means coal burned (tonnes) x carbon content x 44/12, where 44/12 is our arithmetic for turning carbon mass into CO2 mass. The Guidelines write this for countries, so applying it to one mine is our reading, and without a tonnes figure there is nothing to multiply.

What the Tier 1 factors do and do not include

The Tier 1 per tonne methane factors are seam gas factors. Nothing in them covers fire emissions, so a supplier figure built on them leaves fires out. Our reading: say so in any answer you give, rather than implying a complete mine total.

1. Ask the supplier whether there is a fire or burning dump at the mine, and whether it has measured or estimated the tonnes of coal burned.
2. If the tonnes burned are unknown, state "not estimated, no factor in the IPCC 2006 Guidelines; tonnes burned unknown" instead of inventing a factor.
3. If the tonnes burned are known, use coal burned x carbon content x 44/12 and keep it clear of the methane lines to avoid double counting.
4. If the supplier gives any other figure, record who calculated it and how, and keep it separate from the methane lines.

How to answer a buyer who asks

1. Ask the supplier whether there is a fire or burning dump at the mine, and for any measurements it has.
2. If it has none, state "not estimated, no method in the IPCC 2006 Guidelines" instead of inventing a factor.
3. If the supplier gives a figure, record who calculated it and how, and keep it separate from the methane lines.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into dated records, so the coal tonnes bought each month are on file. It has no method for mine fires either; record the supplier's reply with your invoices.

• Coal mine methane factor by mine depth
• Opencast coal mine methane and diesel
• Free calculators

Sources: IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Chapter 4 (Section 4.1, Table 4.1.1, Sections 4.1.2, 4.1.4 and 4.1.6)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. The Guidelines are from 2006; later work may add methods. Check the edition your buyer names. The 44/12 step and its use for a single mine are our reading of Section 4.1.6.