12 July 2021
Today, Market Forces has published a compilation of Adani Group’s many massive fossil fuel expansion plans. See it here.
These plans include:
- Doubling its coal-fired power capacity by 12 gigawatts (GW) to 24 GW, giving it more coal power capacity than all of Australia.
- Owning, developing or operating 132 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of new thermal coal mining capacity, including the massive 60 mtpa Carmichael project in Australia, which would pave the way for more massive coal mines in the untapped Galilee Basin.
- New coal and LNG terminals at Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone’s ports.
- An obscure and highly polluting facility that would convert coal, including imported thermal coal, into plastics.
- 1,500 new retail fuel stations and 1,500 new compressed natural gas (CNG) stations, as well as an expansion of natural gas distribution to households.
In the few weeks this research was being carried out, Adani went and bought another coal-fired power station (not included in the total above), it celebrated hitting the coal seam at its under construction Carmichael coal mine and Carbon Tracker named it as one of the three companies most exposed to stranded asset risk due to its ownership of coal-burning power stations.
However, this investment in the industries most responsible for fueling the climate crisis is not a feature of Adani Group’s public relations materials. Last week, registrations opened for school children to enter Adani Group’s i-can competition, which encourages them to send in their ideas for fighting climate change. While website readers are encouraged to switch their lightbulbs to LEDs and take public transport – there’s no mention of Adani’s intended doubling of its coal-burning power generation capacity or its expansion of petrol retailing. A series of videos on Adani’s activities also contain no mention of Adani Enterprises and its expansion in thermal coal mining. It nonsensically presents its polluting “super-critical” coal power plants as somehow reducing emissions and its planned expansion in dirty and dangerous natural gas use as part of the “clean energy transition”. So while Adani Group continues to build its fossil fuel empire, it puts the responsibility onto children to take individual action to fight the climate crisis it is fuelling. The shamelessness is truly astonishing.
This is called greenwashing, and is one of the reasons why the shocking data we have compiled is so important. Adani Group claims to be committed to the clean energy transition, but the evidence presented shows this claim to be false. What Adani Group is actually doing is expanding in several directions, and that includes coal, oil and gas as well as renewable energy. This creates risks for Adani Group’s investors and financiers. Adani has a history of transferring capital and ownership of subsidiaries between its web of companies. This means that raising funds for one Adani entity risks freeing up capital for the alarming fossil fuel expansions we outline, even if those specific funds are to be officially used for another purpose. If investors and financiers like Barclays and BlackRock don’t want to get caught out supporting Adani Group’s climate-wrecking coal and gas developments, then they need to avoid the entire conglomerate.
Take action by filling out the form below, and click here for more detail on Adani’s coal, oil and gas expansion plans.