Adani on Tuesday defended its 16.5 billion dollar Carmichael Mine in Australia.

The Queensland court heard that the burning coal could risk the climate to a dangerous level whereas its extraction would not directly affect the Great Barrier Reef.

The environmental group Coast and Country has challenged the Adani’s plans to build biggest mine in the Galilee Basin. 

The court heard a UN agreement across 200 countries dictates global warming should be kept under 2 degrees Celsius and that the threshold would be reached after the emission of roughly 850 gigatonnes of carbon-di-oxid.

University of Queensland’s Ove Hoegh Guldberg said the Carmichael project could contribute 4.5 gigatonnes of emissions.

“We’re talking about 0.5 per cent of the total emissions left…before we push the climate into a very dangerous state,” he said.

“That’s an enormous amount of carbon-di-oxide over the life of the mine,” he said.

Adani has argued that the need for coal was driven by demand, and not supply, and even if the project does not go ahead, coal-fired power stations would simply find other sources.