Forrest backs ban on new fossil fuel ‘as only responsible thing to do’

Fortescue Metals chairman Andrew Forrest says banning new coal and gas developments was the “only responsible thing to do” as he escalates his push for the mining sector to rapidly shift away from exporting fossil fuels.

Fortescue Metals chairman Dr Andrew Forrest. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

Fortescue Metals chairman Andrew Forrest says banning new coal and gas developments was the “only responsible thing to do” as he escalates his push for the mining sector to rapidly shift away from exporting fossil fuels.

In an interview with The Australian, Dr Forrest endorsed the Greens’ call for a ban on new fossil fuel developments to accelerate Australia’s shift to being a green energy exporter.

“If you know anything about economics and environmental science, as global warming is set upon us decades earlier than we expected, it is the only responsible thing to do,” Dr Forrest said.

“You can walk and wade across rivers which you’ve never been able to do in recorded human ­history.

“The impact of global warming is not 2050, it is actually right now.”

Dr Forrest said a ban on new gas and coal projects would encourage industry to quickly shift towards mining minerals and developing products that are needed in a net-zero world.

“The world (once) needed enormous amounts of iron ore and coal; it now needs enormous amounts of green energy,” he said.

“Australia has that sun and wind and it could actually be a huge energy exporter, and that could be one of the economic benefits that turns us back into the Lucky Country.”

Anthony Albanese refused to consider the Greens’ proposal to ban opening new coalmines and gasfields during negotiations with the crossbench over the government’s climate change bill to enshrine Labor’s 43 per cent emissions reduction target in law.

The Prime Minister is instead sticking to his pre-election commitment to leave coal and gas projects up to the demand of international trading partners.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has vowed to continue to pressure the government over new fossil fuel developments, including through trying to amend a reformed safeguard mechanism to effectively phase out coal and gas extraction.

Dr Forrest, who made his fortune through iron ore, is aiming to become a major producer of green hydrogen and zero-emissions steel.

He was at loggerheads with the Rudd and Gillard governments over the mining tax and was particularly scathing of former treasurer Wayne Swan, but he believes the Albanese government is a “breath of fresh air” and spoke positively about Mr Swan’s protege, Jim Chalmers.

“Jim Chalmers tells the truth,” he said.

At the jobs and skills summit last week, Dr Forrest said business leaders needed to be bolder to ­realise Australia’s potential to become the “Saudi Arabia of green energy”.

“We do have a country which can be the Saudi Arabia of energy, but it’s 100 per cent green,” he said.

“And anyone who says ‘Hey, look, that is a dream’ – I can tell you it is not,” he added.

“If we took Australia up by 28 times our electricity production, which we can easily do … then we would be producing more green electricity and energy and hydrogen than Saudi Arabia.

“We could do this. Do we have the courage? Do we have the tenacity? Do we have the vision?

“I think we have it in government, but do we have it in the business sector?”