20 February 2020
The pressure on Siemens, the German multinational which last month destroyed its reputation over a $30 million contract, offers a cautionary tale about how dangerous business as usual can become if you haven’t noticed that the world around you has changed.
Siemens, which trumpets its sustainability credentials loudly while quietly helping polluting fossil fuel industries expand, signed a contract (via subsidiary Siemens Mobility) with Adani Mining to provide signalling technology and systems for the Carmichael rail line. This rail line will open up the Galilee coal basin – a massive, untapped thermal coal reserve which, if exploited, will destroy any chance humanity has of avoiding runaway global warming.
Siemens signed this contract in the midst of the worst bushfires in Australia’s history, just as the terrifying reality of the climate crisis was being experienced by millions of Australians. Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser then tried to justify this unethical move with nonsense, red herrings and dodgy spin.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Australia, Germany and beyond have taken action in protest at Siemens collaboration with a climate-wrecking coal project. It has been covered widely in the news in Australia and Europe. Siemens’ annual general meeting last week was dominated by criticisms over the Adani contract. Unless Siemens reverses its decision, the damage to its reputation could be irreparable for a generation.
Siemens’ downfall should provide a learning opportunity for other corporations. There is now ample proof to offer the other diversified European companies on the Adani List (i.e. working with Adani on the Carmichael coal project) that this destructive project is poison for your brand.
These companies are listed below. We urge them to do the right thing and publicly distance themselves from Adani Carmichael, or face the same reputational damage as Siemens.
VINCI
French construction company which claims to make sure its projects “…address the long-term issues facing society as a whole”.
VINCI subsidiary Spiecapag is believed to have expressed interest in working on the pipelines as part of the Carmichael project. Correspondence between Market Forces and VINCI in November 2019 revealed that Spiecapag was not at that point working on the Carmichael project, but VINCI refused to rule out working on it in the future.
Another VINCI subsidiary, Seymour Whyte, is believed to have made an internal decision to refuse all work on the Carmichael project.
LafargeHolcim
Swiss building materials manufacturer. Subsidiary Humes is believed to have bid for the supply of precast concrete for the Carmichael project.
Aliaxis
Privately owned Belgian plastic piping supplier. Subsidiary Vinidex is believed to be supplying pipes to the Carmichael coal project.
Vossloh
German rail technology company that spruiks itself as “appropriate for investors with a sustainability focus”. Subsidiary Austrak signed an $82m contract in 2017 to supply the railway sleepers for the Carmichael rail network in its original 400km form. Vossloh has not provided information on the current status of the contract, now that the rail line has been reduced to around 200km.
Sodexo
French food services and facilities management company. Has a partnership with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) to provide lower impact meals and claims “corporate responsibility lies at the core of everything we do”.
Sodexo is providing the hospitality and cleaning services for the Carmichael rail line construction camps.
SAP
German software company that according to Dow Jones is the world’s “most sustainable software company”. Media reports indicate that SAP has an Adani Group-wide “business transformation deal”. SAP has refused to say whether its products are being used to facilitate the construction of the Carmichael coal mine and rail line.
Take action: Email all the companies working on the Adani Carmichael project below.