Last year, companies continued to try to push ahead with big projects in the pursuit of profit – with no concern for those who stand to lose out from their actions. But Jubilee Australia, alongside our partners around the world, has been pushing back.
We've outlined this work in our Annual Report 2021, published today.
First, we spearheaded a campaign demanding that the Coalition government turn off the tap of public funding to new fossil fuel projects. We revealed that Export Finance Australia gave up to 80 times more funding for fossil fuels than for renewables and that overseas public finance banks pumped a staggering $36.3 billion into new fossil fuel projects here over the last ten years.
One of them is Santos’ Barossa gas project, planned for the Timor Sea. The project would release shocking amounts of CO2 as the gas is extracted, produced and eventually burnt. Moreover, the Tiwi Traditional Custodians of the sea country that will be impacted have not been consulted. For these reasons, we've been campaigning to Stop Barossa Gas.
We’ve also been tackling illegal logging. Last year, we exposed how big banks propped up Papua New Guinea's logging boom – which decimated the country's forests – with millions of dollars in support. We’re pushing the Morrison government to reform regulations to stop companies from importing timber products from potentially illegal sources.
We also lodged a complaint with the government – signed by more than 2600 people living on PNG's Sepik River – against PanAust for failing to get their consent for its Frieda River Mine. And we released a report revealing that Australian companies in Fiji don’t have the consent of locals to mine there either.
Each year, our work with communities fighting to protect their local environments grows more urgent, as corporations target more and more of our planet’s lands and waterways for development.
You, too, can be a driving force in this fight as a member of our incredible community of monthly donors. These dedicated supporters enable us to expose corporate and government wrongdoing through quality research – and campaign for just solutions – throughout the year. Whether you sign up for a recurring donation of $10 or $100, it makes a real difference.