Speaking after meeting climate activist Luisa Neubauer in Berlin, Kaeser told journalists he had offered her a seat on the supervisory board of the group's new Siemens Energy division. Neubauer did not join the news conference.

Siemens' contract to provide signalling technology to the coal mine's railway is worth 18 million euros (15.29 million pounds), Kaeser said.

The Australian government last year approved the construction of a new coal mine in Queensland by Adani that is expected to produce 8-10 million tonnes of thermal coal a year.

Australia is one of the world's largest carbon emitters per capita because of its reliance on coal-fired power plants.

(This story corrects location of mine in first paragraph to Australian, not Austrian)

(Reporting by Thomas Seythal in Berlin and Alexander Huebner in Munich; Editing by Michelle Martin)