"What you do may seem minor, but it can have a ripple affect and show that you as an industry is doing something. If we don't do something there are people that will point the finger all the time," Moult said.

Moult highlighted the importance of climate change as a "real issue" in the industry. He drew attention to Anvil Hill, a mine that was being developed by Centennial and was recently sold to Xstrata, as an example of how the industry needed to take on board the issue of downstream burning.

Moult spoke on how mines could decrease their carbon footprint at an operational level.

"The biggest contributor is what comes out of the fan - that dwarfs anything you pull out of a gas drainage system."

He added that if the industry could better project itself in the market place that would "only help" and part of that was supporting projects like Coal21.