A new report released today by Market Forces and 350.org shows how Australia’s ‘big four’ banks, supported by international investors, are literally Financing Reef Destruction.
Here’s what the big four banks do with your money
The report makes it clear that the ‘big four’ Australian banks – ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac – play a critical role in enabling major fossil fuel projects. Combined, these banks lent $3.8 billion to coal ports and LNG terminals in the Great Barrier Reef Word Heritage Area since January 2008.
We’re calling on customers of those banks to tell them to stop financing reef destruction or they will pull out their funds and go elsewhere.
Bill McKibben, coming to Australia in June for a “Global Warming: Do the Maths” tour, said “When you do the maths on avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, there simply isn’t enough room in the carbon budget for new fossil fuel projects. We’ve got to wind down the fossil fuel era with great haste if we’re going to keep the planet from overheating. This report by Market Forces provides Australians with the information they need to make hard decisions about where their money is invested and if it’s helping or destroying the planet.”
Book tickets to hear Bill McKibben speak about fossil fuel divestment in Australia in June and share the graphic on Facebook!
May 2nd, 2013 | No Comments » | timhollo
There’s a new article in the Sydney Morning Herald from Bill McKibben — read the beginning of the article below, or jump to the full article here.
Coal must stay in the ground: Bill McKibben. Photo: Nancie Battaglia
Australian coalmining has become a ”rogue industry” and most of the coal slated for export must stay in the ground if the nation is to tackle climate change, according to prominent US environmentalist Bill McKibben.
Many coal projects, and coal infrastructure projects in Queensland, are expected to run for decades, and are only now gaining development approval.
But the federal government has pledged to reduce Australia’s greenhouse output by 80 per cent by the middle of the century, putting it on a collision course with the resources expansion.
”If the world ever takes climate change seriously, that coal simply has to stay in the ground,” Mr McKibben said. ”There’s no physical way to burn it, or Canada’s tar sands, or Venezuela’s shale oil, and not go over the red line that almost all governments, including Australia’s, have drawn at two degrees.”
Click here to read the full article at the Sydney Morning Herald Website
April 7th, 2013 | No Comments » | timhollo
