Australia’s environmental think tank the Climate Council has warned that if all the coal in the Galilee Basin were dug up and burnt, the central Queensland region would be among the world’s top 15 polluting countries.

In its latest report it says that Indian conglomerate Adani’s massive Carmichael coalmine, as the first in the area, should not go ahead because it poses serious environmental, health and tourism risks.

The Climate Council report, released today, uses a ‘carbon budget’ approach, which says that in order to limit global warming to the two degrees Celsius target of the United Nations sponsored Paris Agreement, only a fixed amount of carbon pollution can continue to be produced.

“When you do that calculation there is a very, very clear outcome and that is no coalmines whatsoever in the Galilee Basin can be developed,” climate scientist and report co-author Professor Will Steffen told AAP Newsagency.

“Any development there, particularly the Carmichael mine, is inconsistent with the Paris two-degree target which we signed up to.”

He says that with the world moving towards renewable energy, the Carmichael project might not stack up financially.

The report notes 14 major banks around the world, including Australia’s big four, have said they will not fund the Adani project based on its economic viability and environmental impact.

The Climate Council rejects the claim from conservative Liberal-National Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his ministers that if Australia does not sell its high-quality coal to Adani for export to India, the country will source dirtier coal elsewhere.

This assertion by the Liberal-National government also ignores the fact that most of the Galilee Basin coal is lower grade and more polluting.

“It’s one thing for us to assert, well, Adani’s going to get coal anyway, but that’s based on the assumption that they’re going to keep going with coal,” Professor Steffen said.

“That assumption is looking increasingly shaky.”

The report highlights the health issues associated with coal, saying about 100,000 people die in India each year because of emissions from coal-fired power plants.

The deadly black-lung disease has also recently re-emerged among Queensland coalminers.

Professor Steffen said the health issues associated with burning coal loomed as large as climate change.

He also said burning more coal would worsen the impact of climate change, leading to more bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, which would cause job losses in the tourism industry.

“Australia has more to lose by selling coal to India than it does by not selling it,” Professor Steffen said.