Media reports have cast doubt on the claim Australia will send India its cleanest-burning coal.

The people behind Adani’s planned Carmichael coal mine claim that supplying India with “high quality” Australian coal well help the nation improve air quality and lower greenhouse gases.

Minister for Resources Matthew Canavan recently argued that if India does not buy Australian coal, “they will get that coal elsewhere — which they are doing right now”.

“Generally speaking that coal is of lower quality than what we have in Queensland,” he said.

But the ABC has unearthed sworn evidence to the Land Court in Queensland, which allegedly shows Adani actually intends to send India high-polluting, low-energy coal with a high ash content.

The documents reportedly lodged on Adani’s behalf say Carmichael will produce “two coal products”.

“Product one, a low ash/moderate energy product most suitable for Asian premium markets... and product two, a high ash/lower energy product most suitable for non-premium markets, particularly India.”

Mr Canavan said his claims still stand.

“Different coal companies create different products for different circumstances,” he said.

“There is also the opportunity to blend and then officiate that coal at the other end. That's a commercial decision for themselves.

“The Queensland Supreme Court itself also made the point that the Adani Carmichael coal mine itself won't increase greenhouse gas emissions, if it displaces coal from other sources.

“That's exactly what it will do, because India will get coal from somewhere, [and] as I say, their own coal is generally lower quality than ours.”

The average energy content of coal at the planned Carmichael mine is 18 per cent lower than the benchmark for Australian coal, but India will not even be receiving the best of that supply.

Adani has conceded that the ash content is close to 26 per cent, around double the Australian benchmark.

Adani maintains that coal from Carmichael will cut greenhouse emissions.

“The thing about Carmichael is, it will reduce the carbon footprint of existing [Indian] plants, which are using Indonesian or Indian coal today, by say 30 to 40 per cent,” Adani Australia CEO Jeyakumar Janakara told a forum in Brisbane last week.