Investors weigh environmental, social risks of coal seam gas

The mining of coal seam gas has never been more prominent in Australia, and institutional investors are weighing the environmental, social and political risks of being invested in companies with exposures to coal seam gas operations. While there are potential financial returns for projects mining natural gas from coal seam pockets in New South Wales and Queensland, institutional investors with long term time horizons have to balance those returns against the environmental risks of the mining process, particularly to water supplies, the risk of new and more costly regulation, and the social and reputational risks that come as stakeholders raise objections to coal seam gas.