<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/andrew-forrest-takes-aim-at-woodside-and-exxon-as-battle-lines-are-drawn-for-trump-2-0/>
"It didn’t take long after Donald Trump and the Republicans swept the polls in
the US elections for the Australian fossil fuel industry and its political
enablers to do what they like to do best: Celebrate a victory at the expense of
the rest of the world.
Members of the federal Coalition – in sync with Trump’s claims that climate
science is a hoax and green energy is a scam – agitated for the party to drop
the 2050 net zero target, along with the pretence that it cared about the
climate. The NT government did much the same, celebrating the Beetaloo Basin
carbon bomb as a gas-led recovery for its economy.
In Perth, oil and gas major Woodside – fresh from reports that it may get a
50-year extension to another carbon bomb, its processing plant on the Burrup
Peninsula – hailed the Trump victory, and his pledge to “drill, baby, drill,” –
as being good for the oil and gas industry, if not for the planet.
Over in Baku, where the hosts say that oil and gas is a “gift from the gods”,
UN boss António Guterres said humanity’s use of fossil fuels is “torching the
planet”, as the World Meteorological Organisation released new data confirming
that 2024 will be the hottest year ever, and is already above the Paris target
of 1.5°C.
“Humanity is paying the price,” Guterres said, referring not just to a series
of natural disasters, but also, as UN climate chief Simon Stiel said, the fact
that worsening climate impacts will put “inflation on steroids.” So much for
Trump and gas “reducing the cost of living crisis”, as Woodside boss Meg
O’Neill was telling the West Australian.
Andrew Forrest, the executive chair of mining giant Fortescue Metals and now
Australia’s richest and most ardent green energy crusader, was not having a bar
of it. As the US election results unfolded, Forrest used the company’s AGM to
launch a remarkable direct attack on Woodside and oil giant Exxon that got lost
in the wall of sound over the Trump victory.
It’s worth repeating, because these are the battle lines that will be drawn
with growing intensity as the Trump Administration takes power and it and its
enabled cronies and supporters start to throw their weight around.
Forrest is not the only person in the world agitating for rapid emission cuts,
but he is probably the wealthiest, and is using his money, and that of his
shareholders, to walk the talk."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
