Andrew Forrest lashes oil and gas climate laggards over greenwashing

Andrew Forrest has accused the country’s major energy producers of greenwashing the oil and gas industry and says they must come clean on their contribution to climate change.

Andrew Forrest has launched an attack at the oil and gas industry on the eve of the APPEA conference.

Fortescue Metals chairman Andrew Forrest has accused the country’s major energy producers for greenwashing the oil and gas industry and “putting lipstick on a pig”, and says they must come clean on their contribution to climate change.

On the eve of a major oil and gas conference in Brisbane, the mining billionaire has amped up an attack on the industry – stating it was mischievously claiming green credentials while pumping out highly polluting fossil fuels.

“I’m asking for the fossil fuel sector to say we’re supplying dirty fuel while we have to. And we’re moving as quickly as we can to change to zero pollution fuel. And don’t try and greenwash your current pollution out of existence,” Dr Forrest told The Australian ahead of delegates arriving at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration forum.

“What I’m asking every fossil fuel company to do is give consumers like us green choices as soon as you possibly can. And don’t masquerade, don’t put lipstick on a pig, in the meantime.”

Dr Forrest has been an ardent critic of big producers, including Woodside Petroleum and Santos, for their decisions to proceed with oil and gas projects that will exacerbate global warming, which he argues will hamper efforts for Australia to meet climate change goals including net zero by 2050.

Many in the industry have accused him of double standards given he is bankrolling a major gas import project in NSW. Fortescue has for years claimed a big diesel fuel subsidy which it now wants phased out to support development of a green energy industry, and is one of the top 30 biggest Scope 1 polluters in the nation.

The mining magnate, who is pushing ambitious green hydrogen goals, said he recognised the need to keep fossil fuels including oil and gas in the mix, given rampant demand for energy.

However, he wants producers at the APPEA conference to be truthful about their emissions and not “greenwash” the industry, particularly given moves by the sectors’s biggest names to bulk up, with Woodside Petroleum shareholders to vote on a $40bn BHP Petroleum merger this Thursday and Santos scooping up Oil Search in a $21bn deal.

Woodside’s Pluto LNG Plant. Picture: Woodside

“The industry’s doubled down on fossil fuels and multiplied its spending on advertising,” Dr Forrest said. “Fossil fuel companies saying what a great job they’re doing to help the climate is just nauseous and I’m saying to the sector and everyone attending the APPEA conference: you are in the best position to lead the world out of global warming and drive yourself into even bigger industries and businesses.

“The change must come from within your industry and within your companies, and greenwashing only cements you in and deepens the community-wide cynicism which is felt every time I listen to or read an ad with green splashed all over it, followed by no action.”

APPEA, in response to Dr Forrest’s comments, said the industry had already spent $5bn in investments to reduce emissions.

“We’re not having yesterday’s argument with Andrew Forrest. We need to reduce emissions to get to net zero by 2050 and we’re spending the money now to make it happen,” APPEA acting chief executive Damian Dwyer said.

“Our members are diversified energy producers, including some of the biggest renewable power producers in the world. We’ve already dramatically reduced emissions by replacing coal. We want net zero by 2050 and we’re not going to limit the speed or ways we can get there.”

While a landmark International Energy Agency report last year concluded no oil or gas fields should be opened up if the world was to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a squeeze on energy supplies amid sanctions and contributed to booming commodity prices. Many producers say their existing supplies plus expansions and greenfield projects are needed to meet strong global demand.

 

Australian oil and gas producers are partly pinning their hopes of cutting emissions through carbon capture and storage, which involves stripping out carbon emissions from an industrial process, compressing the CO2, transporting it and injecting it into an underground reservoir.

Dr Forrest, in Barcelona this week to attend a hydrogen conference, has slammed carbon capture, calling it unreliable and questioning whether a mass rollout of the technology was going to solve the industry’s emissions problems. “It is impossible to ignore that carbon capture and storage … does not have a good track record,” he said.

Dr Forrest is championing green hydrogen technology, which taps renewable energy sources to extract hydrogen from water and transported it as ammonia in Australia and overseas.

A number of energy producers are also pursuing the same green hydrogen plans, while others think supplies from gas used with carbon capture and storage are also needed as the industry expands, given the high costs of green supplies currently.

Santos said in October the cost of green hydrogen from Dr Forrest’s Port Kembla plant would be nearly three times higher than hydrogen sourced from its Moomba hub in South Australia.

APPEA will host a hydrogen pavilion at the conference.