AGL Energy dumps fossil fuel lobby group
AGL Energy has dropped membership of two lobby groups, including a major fossil fuel advocate, as the power giant reworks its image to hit ambitious green goals this decade.
AGL Energy has pulled out of two lobby groups, including a major fossil fuel advocate, as the Mike Cannon Brookes-backed power giant reworks its image to reach ambitious green goals this decade.
The nation’s largest electricity generator has withdrawn from the Australian Pipeline and Gas Association, the chief lobby group for the industry, and the Energy Users Association of Australia, which represents major manufacturers and retailers including BlueScope Steel and Wesfarmers.
It follows Mr Cannon-Brookes, the company’s largest shareholder, on Friday describing AGL as “one of the most toxic companies on the planet”.
AGL axed the industry associations amid “an ongoing review of the value provided by member organisations and alignment with AGL’s internal requirements”, the company disclosed in its annual report.
The decision on ending its APGA membership has previously been linked to the group telling The Australian the “enormous” $66bn taxpayer bill for electrifying homes and businesses had been frequently downplayed. The APGA also said on March 2 that Australia’s road to renewables must take into account the nation’s cost-of-living crisis.
AGL said the APGA decision was due to a “declining need for the group’s technical and operational advice as the company exits ownership of upstream gas assets”.
The APGA describes itself as an infrastructure lobby group with a net zero emissions strategy including phasing out natural gas in homes through carbon neutral renewable gases.
No reason was given for quitting the EUAA, which under chief executive Andrew Richards has become of the most vocal critics of behaviour in gas markets and the market power of major producers and LNG exporters.
It has previously slammed producers for attempting to “hoodwink” the industry with claims about affordable domestic gas prices.
AGL, aiming to reinvent itself from Australia’s biggest coal-fired power generator to a green power company, has been looking to align itself with more ambitious climate rhetoric.
Mr Cannon-Brookes continues to push the company for a faster decarbonisation plan, including earlier shutdowns of its Bayswater and Loy Yang A coal power stations.
The EUAA said it hoped AGL would eventually rekindle its membership, pointing to a broader set of ructions in the last 18 months after it rejected a takeover and dumped a planned demerger due to opposition from major shareholders, including the Atlassian billionaire.
“We hope they would rejoin the EUAA now things seem to have settled down as we are keen to bring customers and the industry closer together as we manage the transition to net zero,” Mr Richards said on Sunday.
A green campaign group, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, said AGL’s decision to quit the APGA was a “no-brainer”.
“It was ludicrous for a company like AGL, which has a refreshed strategy that is focused on the transition to renewable energy and the development of electrification products for households, to be funding an organisation that is waging a scare campaign against that very strategy,” ACCR special adviser Harriet Kater said.
The move by AGL follows a broader trend among Australian resources companies to review their membership of a string of often influential lobby groups.
BHP has previously said it will push industry groups to publish an “advocacy plan” each year, detailing the group’s key positions and lobbying activities they intend to undertake.
Activists and climate-focused investor groups like the ACCR continue to push large polluters to shed industry groups lobbying against action on climate change, or bring them to account over fossil fuel policy positions.
AGL in 2022 pledged to spend $20bn to develop 12 gigawatts worth of zero emission generation capacity.
It will close its Loy Yang A coal power station by 2035, and is targeting the closure of Bayswater in NSW between 2030 and 2033.
While investors have backed the plan, AGL is under pressure to fund the transition without damaging its balance sheet.
