Swiss protesters have backed Hunter Student Strike for Climate rallies against Glencore

IT was dark and cold and a long way from Australia, but Swiss climate activists stood in solidarity with Hunter students outside Glencore headquarters in Switzerland to protest expansion of the Hunter's Glendell coal mine.

Protesters have staged a series of rallies in the past few months after Hunter Student Strike for Climate activists called on Australians to say more than doubling annual production at the Singleton mine site until 2044 is a line in the sand that can't be crossed in a warming planet.

In Switzerland they heard the call.

Swiss Climate Strike activist Nico Heinimann said the world was "confronted with a crisis and it's the climate crisis".

"The causes of the climate crisis are global and the consequences will affect everyone, no matter which hemisphere they live on," Mr Heinimann said.

"Rich countries, which are to blame for most of the emissions, need to take responsibility."

As countries around the world struggle to respond to the coronavirus crisis, there are concerns the climate change crisis will drop out of focus, just as it lost traction during the global financial crisis.

Mr Heinimann said Australia needed to commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The Swiss group has protested for an even tougher goal of net zero emissions by 2030 without compensation technologies.

"Glencore and its coal mining expansions are substantially contributing to the climate crisis and are hindering change," Mr Heinimann said.

"Glencore, a Swiss company with influence in many other countries, has to be held accountable. We support School Strike 4 Climate Australia and call on everyone to join their actions and demonstration in the protest against the climate crisis and Glencore.

"The climate crisis should not just be an issue for students, but to all generations and social groups."

Hunter students stood outside the Glendell mine on December 31 in the searing heat as Australia braced for catastrophic bushfires.

"We can't expand this mine and other mines because the world has to reduce carbon emissions now. That's what we need to focus on, the future, and how to limit the damage instead of opening new mines," said Newcastle student Luka McCallum, 15.

The Department of Planning is assessing Glencore's plan to remove 140 million tonnes of coal from a new area once coal is exhausted in 2023 at Glendell. Glencore said the expansion will provide job security for 300 workers and "in isolation, is unlikely to materially influence global emission trajectories".