The Norwegian government’s decision to tighten the Government Pension Fund Global’s (GPFG) coal exclusion criteria will see the world’s richest sovereign wealth fund withdraw a combined AU$3 billion from AGL, BHP and South32. The announcement comes at a particularly bad time for AGL, just days after the company’s share price … Read More
QBE’s unanswered questions
11 June 2019 It’s not often that an annual general meeting (AGM) can be described as compelling. QBE’s AGM held on 9 May, however, delivered the goods with several questions from the floor resulting in extraordinary exchanges between shareholders and the chairman Marty Becker and CEO Pat Regan. Unfortunately, these … Read More
Woodside CEO admits gas the loser if the world limits warming to 1.5 degrees
In a week where climate change dominated global headlines with the UK Parliament’s declaration of a climate emergency and school strikers taking to the streets in over 500 locations worldwide, corporate Australia was also facing increasing scrutiny on climate change. Woodside’s annual general meeting on Thursday 2 May 2019 in … Read More
Nothing explosive about Orica’s climate disclosures
Orica provide explosives, blasting and tunnelling services to the mining, oil and gas, and construction industries. Unlike some of its industry peers, Orica’s published reports do give shareholders some sense of reality: the company accepts the science of climate change, recognises the need for scenario analysis, and this year began … Read More
Karoon Gas: not quite the environmentalist it claims to be
30 November 2018 “We are at heart environmentalists,” CEO Robert Hosking of oil explorer and soon-to-be producer, Karoon Gas told shareholders at today’s annual general meeting in Melbourne. The company, which is about to drill an offshore oil well in Peru that has a CO2 emissions potential of 110 million tonnes … Read More
Senex passes the buck on climate change targets
15 November 2018 When it comes to measuring the financial risk of climate change, not much has changed for oil and gas company Senex over the past three years. In 2016 its auditors declared they did not consider climate risk as a financial risk. In 2017 the board still hadn’t … Read More
Carnarvon Petroleum – climate change not a financial risk
9 November 2018 Western Australia-based oil and gas exploration company Carnarvon Petroleum made clear at its annual general meeting today that it does not consider climate change as a material financial risk. Chairman P. J. Leonhardt explained he had missed a page of his opening address when asked by a … Read More
Climate change – low priority for Cooper Energy
8 November 2018 Cooper Energy – an Australian gas and oil exploration and production company – was questioned at its annual general meeting (AGM) today about how climate change would affect its business. Oil and gas companies are clearly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including global policy decisions … Read More
Downer board can’t face up to climate questions
1 November 2018 Downer’s board of directors faced questions at today’s annual general meeting about their climate change views and the company’s stance on Australia’s emissions targets. Downer Holdings Company Ltd, as it is listed on the Australian stock exchange, has a diverse business portfolio that includes power, oil and … Read More
Another year, another $1m in political donations from fossil fuel companies
1 February 2018 Malcolm Turnbull’s personal donation of $1.75 million around the time of the 2016 Federal election may have grabbed all the headlines, but the ongoing contributions to political parties by Australia’s largest fossil fuel companies may explain why our climate policies are so appallingly weak. Fossil fuel companies … Read More
