Fires and climate fears rattle Australia's giant coal lobby
Source: Reuters
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS FEBRUARY 19, 2020 / 11:58 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Fires and climate fears rattle Australia's giant coal lobby
Joe Brock, Melanie Burton
9 MIN READ
SYDNEY (Reuters) - As bushfires and floods fuel public concerns in Australia about global warming, the country’s powerful mining lobby is facing increasing pressure from investors to drop support for new coal mines, according to a dozen interviews with shareholders in global mining companies.
Nearly a third of shareholders in BHP Group Ltd, the world’s biggest miner, last year voted for resolutions to axe its membership in industry groups advocating policies counter to the Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.
Although the resolutions failed, pressure from shareholders and the public has since increased on companies to ensure lobby groups support the Paris goals, according to interviews with officials at investors in major mining companies like BHP, Rio Tinto Plc, Glencore Plc and Anglo American Plc. That support includes backing energy policies that favor the rapid phase out of coal, they said.
Australia’s devastating bushfire season has fueled public anger toward powerful lobby groups that support new coal mines, such as the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) and New South Wales (NSW) Minerals Council, and their close association with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government.
This makes companies with coal exposure, like mining companies or banks, vulnerable if governments switch to greener policies, the investors said.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-australia-lobbying-ins/fires-and-climate-fears-rattle-australias-giant-coal-lobby-idUSKBN20E0FE