Some activists have criticised the softening of the wording from "phase out" to "phase down" but others say it's the first time such a United Nations document has directly named coal as a target.

Timed to coincide with the Glasgow summit, protesters have also repeatedly disrupted the flow of coal from Hunter mines in northern NSW to the Port of Newcastle this week, with a group calling itself Blockade Australia proclaiming its intention to "bring the coal rail network to a standstill".

It boasted yesterday that its protests had seen more than 20 coal trains cancelled in the past week.

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The government pacts and the associated protests come as the industry is at arguably its most profitable ever in the modern postwar era, with big price increases meaning the federal government now expects sales of thermal coal for power stations to hit $24 billion this financial year, up from $16 billion in the year to June 30.

Coking coal used in steelmaking is tipped to go from $23 billion in 2020-21 to $30 billion this year.

The latest edition of Australian Coal Report shows shows top-grade Newcastle thermal coal fetching under $US160 ($218) a tonne last week, well down on the unprecedented $US260 ($355) quoted midway through October, but still triple the $US54 ($73) quoted in October 2020.

At the same time, ACR says hard coking coal - almost exclusively from Queensland - is fetching $US400 ($545) a tonne, or about twice its recent long-run price.

BHP has continued its withdrawal from coal, last week selling its 80 per cent stake in the BMC coking coal joint venture with Mitsui in Queensland for $US1.2 billion ($1.63 billion).

The new owner is Queensland-based miner Stanmore Resources.

BHP is still looking to sell its Muswellbrook thermal coal mine, Mount Arthur.

This year's price rises surprised many, including activists who celebrated the 2020 slump as the end of the industry.

The fortnight-long Glasgow conference ran a day over and only produced a result after China and India agreed to the "phase down" compromise on coal.

Greenpeace Australia chief executive David Ritter said fossil fuel companies now faced "relentless pressure".

"Make no mistake, one clear positive is that the governments of the world have agreed for the first time that the age of coal is over," Mr Ritter said.

The Morrison government issued details of its "long-term emissions reduction plan" on Friday, containing repeated references to a belief that Australian coal will be used domestically and exported to 2050 and beyond.

Although majority public opinion backs significant effort towards decarbonising the economy in the name of climate change, a number of climate activists go well beyond this, with philosophies challenging the direction of society in general.

In a statement to the media yesterday, Blockade Australia said it had caused more than 20 trains to be cancelled by having activists suspended from bridges, locked onto cars and rail infrastructure and climbing coal trains.

One activist, identified as Jonah, 25, said "the true criminals" were those "destroying nature and monetising the sacred".

"Politics has failed," Jonah said.

"The machine will not budge without material resistance. That's why we are here.

"This is a system of extraction and exploitation, in which everything, down to the smallest leaf, is commodified.

"It is designed to materially benefit the elite while the lands and waters are destroyed.

"It is this dead, soulless system which we must resist to restore humanity's beautiful relationship with country".