Woodside has been bombarded with questions from shareholders, environment and conservation experts and Traditional Custodians from WA’s north west at its Annual General meeting, in Perth.
Representatives from the Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) and national organisations including Greenpeace, Market Forces and ACCR attended the AGM at Perth’s Convention Centre, calling Woodside’s merger with BHP and proposed climate plan into question.
The climate plan – which has widely been described as ‘light on detail’ and criticised for inadequate emissions reporting, notably around Scope 3 emissions – was opposed by 49 per cent of shareholders, the lowest level of shareholder support for a climate plan for any Australian fossil fuel company.
The long-proposed merger with BHP’s petroleum arm, creating one of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, was passed by a margin of 97 per cent.
The move – and Woodside’s continued commitment to expanding fossil fuel operations - goes against the global consensus, led by the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC has called for immediate decarbonisation in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, which include frequent extreme weather events, flooding, droughts, wildfires and other climate related disasters.
CCWA Executive Director, Maggie Wood, said Woodside was ‘doubling down’ on an outdated, highly damaging business model.
“Woodside is a fossil fuel company. That is all they know. Rather than taking sensible steps to diversify and move away from its highly polluting operations, Woodside is engaged in a mad dash to sell as much gas as it can before renewables completely displace fossil fuels.
“In continuing to expand its fossil fuel operations Woodside is actively betting against global efforts to decarbonise and avoid the worst effects of climate change.
“The science is clear – there is no debate about the need to rapidly decarbonise and prevent any further fossil fuel expansion. Instead, Woodside continues to indulge its own dangerous obsession with extracting as much profit as it can from a business model which is well past its sell-by date.”
ENDS
MEDIA INFORMATION: The Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) is the state’s foremost non-profit, non-government conservation organisation representing more than 100 environmental organisations across Western Australia.
For more information, visit: ccwa.org.au.
CONTACT: For any enquiries relating to this release, please contact Robert Davies
08 9420 7291 / 0412 272 570 or by email, [email protected]