A HESTA member has today increased pressure on her super fund for failing to demand an end to Woodside’s climate-wrecking gas expansion plans.
Long-term HESTA member, multidisciplinary artist and musician Tash Parker has submitted a legal request for information to her fund, seeking answers about HESTA’s ineffective efforts to drive meaningful change at Woodside.
“I joined HESTA because I trained as a dental nurse in the Kimberley region of WA and am passionate about preventative dental health care education. I am inspired by the community and health care workers who have dedicated their lives to all remote communities around Australia.
Your contribution to the wellbeing of all Australians should be recognised and respected by your super fund, but while HESTA claims to be looking out for our future wellbeing by taking steps to tackle climate change, I’m rapidly losing faith in the fund’s ability to deliver on its climate promises.”
– Tash
Take action!
Join Tash by submitting your own request for information from HESTA.
Like many HESTA members, Tash is frustrated with her fund’s failure to align its actions with its climate commitments and raise pressure on climate wreckers like Woodside:
“Every day I am noticing how climate change is impacting the people I love. My father is a mango farmer suffering from recurring failed seasons. My sister is a researcher trying to learn how we are going to keep animals alive during anticipated heat stress events. I and many of my friends are deeply anxious about the future and what kind of world we are going to be leaving to the next generation. I used to feel paralysed and overwhelmed by how big the problem is and how little impact I could make as an individual. Now I know there are tangible things I can take action on. Doing nothing is no longer an option for me.
I want my retirement savings to be protecting the planet and creating a better future. I want HESTA to properly account for the risks involved in not taking climate action. There is no point saving for my retirement if I’ll be living on a planet where extreme weather events, mass extinctions and global pandemics are making this world uninhabitable.
It is HESTA’s responsibility to properly account for the risks associated with investing in industries that are known to be contributing to the acceleration of climate change, such as oil and gas. By investing in these sectors, HESTA is negatively impacting the communities it is claiming to be supporting.
HESTA must act immediately to ensure that companies like Woodside stop building new gas projects that are threatening a habitable planet for us all, or get my retirement savings out of them.”
– Tash
HESTA members: Join Tash in demanding answers from HESTA!
HESTA’s history of letting its members down
Flying in the face of a world record-breaking vote against its climate plan only three months ago, Woodside announced its acquisition of a gas business in the United States last week, refusing to listen to nearly two-thirds of its investors who are calling for a stronger climate transition plan.
It’s been nearly two years since HESTA asked the impossible of Woodside by requesting that it demonstrate how its new or proposed fossil fuel projects fit within a 1.5°C emissions reduction scenario. Yet the fund still hasn’t disclosed clear escalation steps or a timeframe for Woodside to meet this impossible request.
The feebleness of HESTA’s recent engagement efforts became clear when Woodside brushed aside HESTA’s picks for new directors, after securing support from the fund for the re-election of Woodside’s Chair:
- In March this year, HESTA took an important step by putting forward its own director nominees to be considered for election at Woodside’s annual general meeting (AGM).
- None of these directors were appointed ahead of Woodside’s AGM in April. Despite this snub, HESTA still sided with Woodside by voting for the re-election of Woodside’s Chair, instead of increasing pressure on the company to end its oil and gas expansion plans. As a justification for this decision, HESTA claims its engagement with Woodside has been “constructive.”
- Woodside has since appointed a new board director, which HESTA’s Chief Executive Officer Debby Blakey confirmed was not one of HESTA’s picks.
In short: Woodside appears to have run circles around HESTA, with the fund’s engagement efforts falling far short of delivering any meaningful change at the company so far.
HESTA owes its members an explanation and must disclose how it will increase pressure on Woodside to end its dangerous oil and gas expansion plans.
Take action – Join Tash and other HESTA members by submitting a request for information from HESTA.