MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday 26 September: More than 1,000 UniSuper members, including leading climate scientists and academics have signed an open letter to the Board of Directors calling on the fund to immediately oppose APA Group’s plans to develop pipelines that would enable gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, Northern Territory.
The 1,045 scientists and academics including Professors Lesley Hughes, David Karoly and Peter Singer, are calling on UniSuper to live up to its climate commitments and publicly state the fund does not support APA Group building these fracking projects.
UniSuper is APA Group’s largest shareholder owning more than nine per cent of the company.
APA Group is planning to build several pipelines to support extensive fracking in the Beetaloo Basin by Empire Energy and Tamboran Resources.
Tamboran’s projects alone could unleash emissions equivalent to running a giant coal power station the size of Eraring in NSW for 194 years, according to analysis by Climate Analytics.
Rachel Deans, Oil and Gas Campaigner, Market Forces said:
“UniSuper has an opportunity to live up to its climate promises and publicly state the fund is opposed to APA enabling dangerous gas fracking.”
UniSuper has committed to ‘working with companies to reduce real-world emissions and accelerate the transition,’ to ‘contribute to a 43% reduction in Australia’s emissions by 2030’ and reach net zero portfolio emissions by 2050.
There’s a growing swell of outrage from climate scientists and academics over UniSuper’s inaction over failing to hold APA to account.
Climate scientist, Emerita Professor of Biology, Lesley Hughes said:
“By investing in the Beetaloo gas project via APA and failing to advocate against this pipeline being built, UniSuper is not just letting down its members, it’s letting down Australians and everyone else on the planet who want a safer future for their kids.”
“Funding the expansion of the fossil fuel industry is fundamentally incompatible with the Paris Agreement. We are in a climate emergency, with warming rapidly escalating and the impacts being felt by millions of people. It must stop!”
Climate scientist and Professor Emeritus David Karoly said:
“Fossil gas from fracking is a much more powerful and dangerous climate pollutant than carbon dioxide. The UniSuper investment in APA is not consistent with its commitment to support action to meet the Paris Agreement targets. All new fossil gas extraction projects in Australia need to be stopped.”
Dr Felicity McCormack, senior lecturer in Antarctic research said:
“The support by UniSuper of the proposed pipeline development by the APA Group flies in the face of everything we know we need to do to uphold our obligations under the Paris Agreement.
“The science says we need to be shutting down fossil fuel operations, not funding their expansion. Our planetary health is on the line,” said Dr McCormack.
UniSuper Open Letter sign on web page.
The data – Beetaloo incompatible with climate goals
- APA’s pipelines would unleash emissions from the Beetaloo Basin’s vast gas reserves threatening a safe climate.Annual domestic emissions from fracking in the Beetaloo and processing the gas at Middle Arm would produce up to 49 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) per year, adding 11 per cent to Australia’s current annual emissions, according to Climate Analytics.
- Including end-user consumption of the gas, total emissions could run to 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 25 years.
- In May 2023, 96 leading Australian Scientists and Experts, most of which are UniSuper members, called for the Northern Territory Government to ban unconventional gas development due to its impact on the climate.
- The International Institute for Sustainable Development has found that “according to a large consensus across multiple modelled climate and energy pathways, developing any new oil and gas fields is incompatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C”.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that the “projected CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure without additional abatement would exceed the remaining carbon budget for 1.5°C.”
- Market Forces initial analysis suggests if Empire and Tamboran were to achieve their full Beetaloo production forecasts by 2030, APA’s potential involvement could cancel out the company’s 30% reduction target multiple times over. For APA to meet its 2030 target, it would therefore need to significantly increase reliance on carbon offsets beyond already exceedingly high levels.
For media inquiries and interviews, contact:
Antony Balmain, +61-423-253-477, [email protected]