MELBOURNE, Tuesday 14 October 2025 — Telstra’s local weather credibility has been challenged at its AGM as we speak, as Greenpeace Australia Pacific, alongside local weather and funding consultants, known as out the corporate for its silence whereas serving on the board of the board of the Enterprise Council of Australia (BCA) — a vested curiosity group that has doubled-down on its assist for brand new gasoline and lobbied towards local weather motion.
Greenpeace is staging a protest exterior Telstra’s AGM on the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre as we speak, utilizing a mock Telstra telephone sales space to ask shareholders and the general public to ‘name’ the corporate, demanding it clear up its act on local weather, and stroll away from the BCA.
Throughout the AGM proceedings Greenpeace campaigners will be part of internationally recognised knowledgeable in local weather change, Professor Emeritus David Karoly from the College of Melbourne, and Senior ESG Supervisor at SIX, James Alexander, to instantly problem Telstra’s place on new gasoline initiatives and its alignment with the BCA.
Solaye Snider, Local weather and Power Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, mentioned: “Telstra talks an enormous sport on local weather, however by staying silent whereas the BCA doubles-down on its assist for brand new gasoline and continues to foyer towards local weather motion, Telstra is a part of the issue.
“Of all of the BCA members we ranked on our Local weather Credibility Tracker, based mostly on whether or not their actions match their local weather commitments, Telstra sits on the backside. Telstra’s ongoing assist for the BCA instantly contradicts the commitments it has made to its clients, shareholders and the Australian public, and the corporate must be held to account.
“Communities throughout Australia, particularly regional areas, are already going through the true impacts of local weather change: excessive bushfires, record-breaking floods, and damaging storms, pushed by the burning of fossil fuels like gasoline. They need to know when an organization claiming to take motion is backing those that are making it worse.
“If Telstra is critical about its local weather commitments, it should stroll away from the BCA.”
Professor Emeritus David Karoly, internationally recognised knowledgeable in local weather change, mentioned: “Telstra’s public local weather commitments, together with its pledge to succeed in web zero emissions by 2050 consistent with the Paris Settlement, are in clear battle with the Enterprise Council of Australia’s advocacy.
“Scientific consensus exhibits that every one fossil fuels, together with gasoline, should decline quickly to restrict warming to 1.5C. The Enterprise Council of Australia’s ongoing assist for brand new gasoline developments, together with the extension of the North West Shelf facility to 2070, is incompatible with the pressing reductions required.
“Telstra can not conceivably declare to be dedicated to its local weather objectives, whereas not directly advocating for extra fossil fuels by means of the Enterprise Council of Australia.”
James Alexander, Senior ESG Supervisor at SIX, mentioned: “There’s a rising expectation from institutional traders for extra transparency in company local weather lobbying and selling lobbying aligned with the objectives of the Paris Settlement. This contains appearing when a commerce affiliation is misaligned with the corporate coverage by both making an attempt to cease the organisation lobbying on a problem when there may be disagreement amongst members or leaving the organisation if that isn’t doable.
“A current authorized opinion from the Environmental Defenders Officer discovered firms face dangers for making web zero commitments then lobbying, instantly or not directly by way of trade associations, for insurance policies misaligned with these commitments, together with for deceptive or misleading conduct and elevated shareholder advocacy.
“Telstra’s Membership of the Enterprise Council of Australia, whose CEO known as for Woodside’s growth of its North West Shelf gasoline mission, is an instance. The emissions from this mission alone dwarfs any emissions reductions from Telstra’s efforts.”
ENDS
Photos can be found right here.
Notes to editor
Greenpeace has just lately launched the Local weather Credibility Scorecard, which ranks BCA members based mostly on whether or not their actions match their local weather commitments. Members of the general public can e-mail the CEOs of key firms to induce them to give up the BCA.
The Enterprise Council of Australia is a foyer group stacked with a few of Australia’s largest polluters together with Woodside and Santos.
The BCA has persistently and efficiently lobbied towards local weather motion, together with by means of its assist of one in every of Australia’s most polluting fossil gasoline initiatives, Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, which the Federal Authorities just lately accredited.
The BCA just lately used deeply flawed financial modelling that ignored the numerous and escalating price of local weather inaction to create a case for the federal government to set a dangerously weak 2035 local weather goal.
For extra info or interviews contact Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or [email protected]
