Some sagacious words from WHC CEO Mr Flynn re BHP and those...

Some sagacious words from WHC CEO Mr Flynn re BHP and those ratbag activists who scare companies like BHP witless, and do great damage to Australians' interests:

(this is from 'The Australian' site and will be in that normally very good newspaper on Monday 19 July 2021):

"...Last year, a group of teenagers took court action calling for an injunction to stop the state Environment Minister approving the Vickery expansion under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The judge dismissed the case, but he also took the opportunity in his judgment to introduce a new duty of care for the Minister concerning carbon emissions: any green-lighting of projects must not cause harm to children (personal injury or death).

The judgment could have major implications. “Everybody I speak to says ‘well, that’s going to be a problem for any project that has a greenhouse gas profile of any sort’,” says Flynn. “Badgerys Creek, for instance is going to get caught by that, agricultural developments, because farming livestock has quite a significant greenhouse gas footprint. It’s going to trap lots of projects.”

The state government will appeal the ruling and Flynn is still expecting a decision on the Vickery extension by August 30.

The daily frustration for the Whitehaven chief is that climate activism is so binary. Coal is bad. Renewables are good. Debate about just how green wind, solar and batteries really are is embryonic, but carbon emissions are a global issue.

Flynn argues that Whitehaven is helping to drive climate change. In the developing world coal is meeting a desperate need for energy security. In Southeast Asia, the average age of a coal-fired power station is 12 years and more are being built. And if Whitehaven’s coal was pulled, it would be replaced by dirtier coal from Russia or Indonesia, emitting far more CO2.

In one sense, he says, Whitehaven is in the emissions reduction business. “We only sell coal to signatories of the Paris Accord. We only fuel power stations which are HELE quality (high-efficiency, low-emissions). Our whole business from the thermal coal side in particular is assisting our customers’ countries in their Paris commitments. If we didn’t do that, a substitute product would be there.”

If anything, Flynn sees activism working against responsible stewardship of coal and a smooth transition. Glencore chief Ivan Glasenberg made the same point after BHP offloaded assets to him, having a go at the Big Australian for not being part of the climate solution.

“I don’t think Ivan was alone in making that comment,” says Flynn. “Many of us have remarked to BHP directly ourselves that if you were really being true to your climate change concerns and principles, you would close that site, not sell it. And you can imagine the response you got from the person sitting opposite you when you said that.

“The responsible thing to do is to run it well. And to tidy up and clean after yourself after you’re done as most responsible mining companies do. But when you are faced with activist parties pressuring you, your board, it’s easier to avoid these question rather than actually address them head on.”..."

(Disclosure: I hold WHC but not BHP).