Acoustic emission (AE) methods are now widely used for damage evaluation. For a better understanding of the damage mechanics of materials such as rocks, AE has been used to monitor stresses which induce crack closure, crack initiation and crack damage. In the present study, an AE system was used to study the damage behaviour of some Australian black coal samples subjected to uniaxial compression. Several samples were left in a container filled with 100% carbon dioxide (CO2) at a certain pressure for 72 h prior to testing. The results were compared with samples which had only been exposed to the atmosphere to see if CO2 had any adverse effect on the strength of coal. Strain gauges were installed on the samples and the measured axial and volumetric strains were studied in conjunction with the AE counts. The AE method was successfully used for detecting the onset of crack initiation and the crack damage stress threshold of the black coal samples. Of the coal samples examined, crack initiation and crack closure of the samples subjected to saturation with CO2 occurred at stress corresponding to a higher percentage of the peak strength when compared to the samples which had only been exposed to atmospheric conditions. However, crack damage occurred at a higher percentage of peak strength and the average peak strength showed a higher value for samples in atmospheric condition when compared to CO2 saturated samples. The results show that sorption of CO2 can cause a reduction in strength of the black coal samples when tested under uniaxial compression. As the coal samples were highly inhomogeneous more tests are required in order to be able to confirm whether the adsorption of CO2 will cause strength reduction in coal and to identify the actual underlying mechanisms. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.