AGL, the country’s biggest coal generator and biggest polluter, has been forced to abandon its ill-considered plans to split in two and keep burning coal for another two decades and more. And it has been forced to do so by shareholder activism.
The fact that coal has been such a touch pad of political debate in the past decade makes this stunning victory by the activist billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes even more remarkable.
For one, it shows that resistance to the green energy transition and science-based climate targets is moving from dodgy back-room political deals and street-based protests, to the plain daylight of the boardroom and financial markets.
Australia now has two of the world’s most powerful and deep-pocketed green energy activists in Cannon-Brookes, the third richest person in the country, and Andrew Forrest, the iron ore billionaire who is the second richest person in the country, and who is making a huge push into green hydrogen and green ammonia.
Cannon-Brookes and Forrest are already working together on what will be the world’s biggest solar plant and battery storage facility, the $30 billion Sun Cable project in the Northern Territory. And they are both damning in their assessment of those who propose new fossil fuel projects.
Yes, we still have conservative politicians, media and “think tanks”, cheered on by Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart from the sidelines, still prosecuting the case for coal, and smearing their faces in coal dust, feigning interest in the future of the coal industry workers.
But the federal election, barely a week old, amplifies the green energy shift. At least 55% of people voted for stronger climate action, and at least one quarter for a lot more than that – the supporters of the Teals and the Greens demand science-based targets, and to act on them.
It’s likely that AGL saw the writing on the wall from the election result, and realised it was kidding itself if it thought it could keep on burning brown coal up to 2045 and retain customers at the same time.
