Environment and health groups are calling for new laws to curb rising pollution from toxic substances and "hefty penalties" for companies that breach pollution controls.

Environmental Justice Australia has completed a three-month study tracking five years of data voluntarily submitted by polluters to Australia's National Pollutant Inventory (NPI), which tracks particle emissions estimates for 93 toxic substances.

Emissions of dangerous fine-particle pollution – called PM2.5 – from the coal industry had increased by 52 per cent in the past five years, compared with a general increase across all industries of 14 per cent.

AGL's Loy Yang A power station featured among the biggest emitters of PM2.5 in 2013-14. EnergyAustralia's Yallourn plant and GDF Suez' Hazelwood facility and the Loy Yang B station are also included in that group.

The Environment Justice Australia study found coal was the leading source of particle pollution and there had been a doubling in coarse-particle pollution – called PM10 – from coal mining in the same period.

The coal industry was responsible for 430,000 tonnes of coarse particle pollution in 2013-14, according to the NPI figures, a contribution of 47 per cent of the national total.

"We've failed to protect the communities of Australia," researcher James Whelan said. "Air pollution kills more Australians than car accidents – that was noted by the Senate inquiry into the health impacts of air pollution in 2013."

Dr Whelan said the federal and state governments had not yet taken "anything like the kind of actions necessary" to enforce stricter air quality standards and curb air pollution that contributed to premature deaths and a range of respiratory and cardiovascular problems.

The Abbott government is working toward a national agreement to improve air quality and better regulate actions at a state and national level.

"Air quality in Australia is very good by world standards but it could be better, and over the coming decades as the population grows, we need to make sure that our air quality improves," a federal government spokesman said.

Environment Minister Lisa Neville said the government was aware of the situation in the Latrobe Valley.

"We will continue to work with the Environment Protection Authority on their air quality monitoring in the valley including providing the best advice to local residents," she said.

The Victorian Greens urged the state government to close down coal-fired power stations.

Greens spokeswoman for energy and environment Ellen Sandell said closing Hazelwood would create jobs if done properly.

"The latest particle pollution data is one more piece of persuasive evidence that ageing coal-fired power plants must be urgently phased out," she said.

A spokesman for AGL said Loy Yang's position as a major producer of emissions in the NPI database was "due to being Victoria's largest electricity producer".

"The Loy Yang A power station generates approximately one-third of the state's energy requirements," he said. "AGL Loy Yang operates well within the strict licence limits set by the Environment Protection Authority for all discharges, including particulates."

A spokeswoman for EnergyAustralia said the Yallourn power station complied with strict requirements on fine particles.

Queensland University of Technology pollution and health expert Adrian Barnett said the high levels of PM 2.5 were a concern for people living in the Latrobe Valley.

Environmental Justice Australia director of advocacy and research Nicola Rivers said the data should be "a wake-up call" for governments that had resisted calls for a crack down on polluters.

Residents of the Latrobe Valley will be forced to wait two years after the Hazelwood mine fire to find out how much pollution was released into the air and subsequently inhaled by thousands of people last year.

With Alana Schetzer