‘Patronising’: HESTA slammed over ‘greenwashing’

Super fund HESTA has helped fatten the nest eggs of members with their fossil fuel investments - but the calls for them to get out of oil and gas are growing louder.

Superannuation fund HESTA’s claims to environmental responsibility are bogus and its investment in fossil fuel industries may amount to a breach of the law, two fund members claim.

In a legal letter sent to HESTA last week, allied health professionals Sue and Rod Campbell-Ross accused the company of greenwashing as the fund has continued to invest in gas giants Woodside and Santos.

HESTA had invested in such fossil fuel companies despite knowing their projects were inconsistent with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, the Campbell-Rosses stated in their letter, sent by the Environmental Defenders Office.

HESTA members Rod and Sue Campbell-Ross are calling on the fund to get out of fossil fuel investments. Picture: Supplied

Those same investments have helped many of HESTA’s 930,000 members fatten their nest eggs. Last year the Australian Prudential and Regulatory Authority rated the super fund as the 12th-strongest over the past decade, with a ten-year rate of return of 7.6 per cent.

But the fund has sustained criticism because of its ongoing investment in fossil fuel ventures. In June, 130 doctors and nurses quit the fund in protest, draining the fund of an estimated $11.7 million in a day.

Sue Campbell-Ross has been a HESTA member for more than 15 years, and Rod for five. They said they had written to the company previously with their concerns, but they were frustrated by the climate “platitudes” they got in response.

“The greenwashing just makes me feel patronised,” Ms Campbell-Ross said. “HESTA says they’re a leader in climate action, but they’re not,” she said. “I feel HESTA is not being clear with its members about the fact that they are investing in oil and gas.”

The greenwashing was “really effective,” Ms Campbell-Ross said, as many fund members, including her colleagues, are “not aware that HESTA was investing in Woodside and Santos”.

When asked about the claims made by the Campbell-Rosses, HESTA issued a single-line statement confirming that had received the letter and were currently reviewing it.

David Morris, CEO of the Environmental Defenders Office. Picture: Supplied

Rachel Deans, superannuation campaigner with the climate organisation Market Forces. Picture: Supplied

While similar causes have been pursued overseas, Environmental Defenders Office CEO David Morris said Australia’s legal framework was “pretty strong on corporate accountability and superannuation responsibility”.

“The legislative frameworks put a high burden on trustees and directors both in terms of their duties to beneficiaries in terms of how they act, but also they have quite strong protections, both for consumers and investors, about conduct which could be seen as misleading or deceptive,” he said.

Depending on HESTA’s response, the complainants could proceed to litigation – “obviously a last resort” – or raise the issue with regulators, Mr Morris said.

Woodside’s North West Shelf Project, off the coat of Western Australia.

“We know that regulators are looking very closely at claims of greenwashing, particularly in the climate space,” he said.

“Greenwashing is a real problem. It creates a perception in the minds of the general public that things are happening and things are happening fast enough, when in reality things are happening far too slowly to achieve what is necessary to achieve a safe climate.”

Rachel Deans from the superannuation activist group Market Forces said HESTA had not changed course after the mass divestment by 130 members back in June, but since then more fund members and organisations “have put HESTA on notice”.

“MarketForces research shows that there’s over $100 billion of Australian retirement savings invested in a small but dangerous group of companies worsening climate change,” Ms Deans said.

Originally published as ‘Patronising’: HESTA slammed over ‘greenwashing’