AustralianSuper criticised for buying up shares in Whitehaven Coal while claiming to be committed to net zero | Energy

The main Australian retirement fund is exposed to increasing its investments significantly at Whithaven in the coal company, and that it is about to become the largest supporter, while it is still committed to reaching the net zero emissions.

The invitation groups told shareholders that the Australians were moving against the direction of their peers through the company’s recent shares, which they said “flying in the face of environmental, social and governance obligations (ESG).”

Clean Energy Finance Market Forces said that the super fund “was on the edge” to become the largest investor in Whitehaven Coal, with a value of about 395 million dollars.

The recent disclosures written by Whitehaven, informed by The Australian Financial Review, now reveals 70.9 million shares in the company, or 8.47 % of shares on the release, after the last purchases.

Australiansuper is the second largest shareholder in the coal company, and according to the market forces, it carries three times the shared shares of all the best 30 superconductions in virtual investment options, based on the latest effective disclosure in December 2024.

“After the company fully stripped and the public from the company in 2020,” the market said, the market forces said, “The Australians have now embraced their greatest interest in Whitehaven within 10 years.

“How can Australians call the ground responsible after buying millions of shares at Whitehaven Coal?” Brett Morgan, chief analyst in the market, said Brett Morgan.

“Australiansuper supports the expansion plans for Whitehaven, which would lead to approximately 5 billion tons of carbon pollution from charcoal burning, equivalent to operating all coal stations in Australia until 2062.”

Morgan said that the organization had been contacted by dozens of Australian members concerned, “Their box is washing greenery and exposing a safe future to their retirement.”

A spokesman for Australiansuper said that the box remained committed to its long -term goal, which is net zero by 2050.

The spokesman said: “I have changed the acquisition of Whitehaven on BHP coal assets from the company’s revenue and made it more attractive due to its importance in steel making,” the spokesman said. Mineral coal is used primarily to make steel while thermal charcoal is used primarily to generate electricity.

“Energy transmission is not written, which means that thermal coal will be an important source of electricity for the network for some time, locally and externally.”

But Naomi Hogan, from the Australian Center for Companies, said that investors who realize the climate in the retirement sector are making an effort on ESG discounts and emissions and “this Australian move conflicts with the direction of its peers.”

Hojan said: “Mineral coal investment cannot be used to protect against coal auditing,” Hogan said.

“ACCR published last year in search of a global survey of 500 investors in the steel value chain, which found that 80 % of respondents from investors believe that the coal profile for metal coal will increase in the next decade.”

Hogan said that the Australians, after previously talked about the importance of its companies compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement, now “a large amount of work in the foreground [Whitehaven’s] Emissions in the line.

She said, “ACCR will look closely at the Australiansuper disclosure that determines ESG risk assessment of this investment.”