UN Human Rights Council Members Urge Australia to Adopt Stronger Climate Measures Now to Protect Human Rights San Francisco, USA / Sydney, Australia – All eyes were on Australia as…
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Lawyers for north-Queensland teenagers ask State Bank of India to halt billion dollar loan as Australian government reviews Adani/Bravus coal mine approval Lawyers at Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) have this week written on behalf of their clients to the State Bank of India (SBI) to request that they do not fund the Adani/Bravus Carmichael coal…
Qld teenagers present critical new evidence to revoke approval of Adani coal mine BREAKING: Two North Queensland teenagers today presented the federal government with new expert evidence and strong legal grounds to revoke approval of Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine. Acting for the young community leaders— Brooklyn O’Hearn, 17, from Townsville; and Claire Galvin, 19, from Cairns — lawyers at Environmental Justice Australia said the three independent expert reports provide sufficient new evidence…
Environmental Justice Australia have written to the Queensland Minister for Environment requesting a law change and an investigation into The Adani Group’s ‘suitable operator’ status in light of fresh allegations revealed by…
Environmental lawyers warn Bayswater coal ash dump expansion cannot proceed until coal ash inquiry is complete, as hearings begin Environmental lawyers are calling for the NSW Environment Minister to pause the assessment process for the coal ash dump expansion at AGL’s Bayswater power station until the outcomes of the coal ash inquiry are known,…
‘Unfair and unprecedented’: public denied scrutiny of controversial gas plan as planning minister ignores government guidelines The Victorian government’s refusal to extend a deadline for public scrutiny of a gas company’s Environment Effects Statement (EES) in Western Port Bay ignores ministerial guidelines and may encourage community groups to defy Stage 4 coronavirus restrictions, warn lawyers. Lawyers at…
Environmental lawyers call for law change and an investigation into Adani’s ‘suitable operator’ following fresh allegations about shocking international track record Environmental Justice Australia reiterate their call for a law change and an investigation into The Adani Group’s ‘suitable operator’ status in light of fresh allegations revealed by the ABC this morning relevant…
MEDIA RELEASE Just days before the Siemens AGM in Germany, Australian experts in environmental law and corporate accountability have written to the President and CEO of Siemens, Mr Joe Kaeser,…
Read EJA’s Submission on AEMC’s Draft Rule Determination — National Gas Amendment (Northern Gas Pipeline – Derogation From Part 23) Rule 2019
NT’s deal with gas company to cost consumers $2.7 billion and enable fracking The Northern Territory government has stitched up consumers in a gas pipeline deal with energy infrastructure company,…
By Ben Potter Whitehaven Coal has buckled to activist shareholders and agreed to look at further disclosure of its climate related risks after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission warned…
By Ruth Williams Industry super fund REST is facing a new federal court legal battle over claims it breached its trustee duties by failing to properly factor climate change-related risks…
20 September 2018 By David Barnden Today ASIC released its report Climate risk disclosure by Australia’s listed companies. ASIC reiterated that the law requires the directors of a listed entity…
By Jennifer Thompson Fourteen of the UK’s biggest pension funds have been warned by lawyers they risk legal action if they fail to consider the effects of climate change on…
By Michael Slezak The Turnbull Government’s $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation contravened its own guidelines for the allocation of such funds, according to environmental lawyers and…
Read EJA’s submission on the draft fourth edition of the ASX Corporate Governance Council’s corporate governance principles and recommendations (PDF, 215KB)
Read EJA’s submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Class Action Proceedings and Third-party Litigation Funders (PDF, 209KB)
MEDIA RELEASE 26 July 2018 Environmental Justice Australia, on behalf of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), has requested that the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) remove…
By Jamie Williamson An individual member is taking a $50 billion superannuation fund to the Federal Court for failure to disclose its exposure to climate change risk and preventative actions….
MEDIA RELEASE 25 July 2018 Mark McVeigh, 23, is taking his superannuation fund REST to the Federal Court of Australia, seeking information about what the trustees know about the impact…
By Michael Slezak The risk that your super could take a hit to its bottom line because of climate change could soon be something your fund is legally obliged to…
EJA’s submission to the Senate inquiry into the Great Barrier Reef 2050 Partnership Program, which includes evidence from Senate Estimates, finds the ‘record investment’ in the Great Barrier Reef should…
By Paul Karp Inquiry dominated by Labor and Greens says finance minister should gain joint responsibility for $5bn NAIF Oversight of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is “severely inadequate” and…
What is EFIC? How is it relevant to Adani’s ambitions in Australia? Could EFIC’s directors be in breach of their duties if they finance Adani? David Barnden from EJA addresses…
A new report by Environmental Justice Australia finds that if Australia’s export credit agency, EFIC, funds Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine, it would expose EFIC’s directors to significant legal and…
By Jane Bardon The Australian Tax Office is investigating the Chinese-Singapore-owned company building the Northern Gas Pipeline from the Northern Territory to Queensland over how the project is being financed….
This report by Environmental Justice Australia examines the Northern Territory’s decision to lift the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. The moratorium was popular and widely supported. Fracking in the NT could produce up to 18%…
Read EJA’s submission to the Interim Targets Independent Expert Panel examining Victoria’s climate change targets 2021-2030: EJA submission Victoria Interim Target Independent Expert Panel final (184KB)
MEDIA RELEASE 17 May 2018 A company that will benefit from the Northern Territory government lifting its fracking moratorium successfully lobbied to gain exemptions from new national gas rules, Environmental…
By David Barnden IN THE aftermath of the Tathra bushfires in March, the Australian Prime Minister denied the impact of climate change on human safety. Malcolm Turnbull started out his…
By Phillip Coorey and Mark Ludlow Federal Labor has all but resolved to oppose the $16.5 billion Adani coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin but is grappling to come up…
By Claire Bickers BILL Shorten has suggested Queensland workers are being led on with fake promises about jobs that will never appear while further distancing federal Labor from the Adani…
By Christopher Knaus A second request for a federal loan to build a freight link supporting Adani’s controversial Carmichael mine has not been withdrawn, an inquiry has heard, but its…
By Toby Mann, Australian Associated Press A federal government body that administers $5 billion of public dollars could be in danger of flouting anti-money laundering laws, environmental advocates say. Environmental…
The environmental movement hopes to persuade Bill Shorten’s party to adopt a legal strategy to stop the mine By Katharine Murphy and Michael Slezak The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, on…
MEDIA RELEASE 1 February 2018 The federal government’s $5bn Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), which is understood to be considering a coal railway loan application from Aurizon, has not finalised…
By Ruth Williams When it comes to corporate Australia and climate change, 2018 is shaping up as a perfect storm. Investors, regulators and litigation lawyers are all circling, ramping up…
Adani’s bid for a $1 billion taxpayer-funded loan may have been doomed even before it was scuppered by Queensland’s Palaszczuk Government according to the Government’s main economic advisory body, the…
MEDIA RELEASE 12 December 2017 The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) cannot loan public money to Adani’s Carmichael coal project without the consent of the Queensland Government, lawyers have confirmed….
A community legal service has urged Australia's consumer watchdog to crack down on Adani for misleading vulnerable jobseekers with inflated claims its Queensland mine will create 10,000 jobs. Environmental Justice…
MEDIA RELEASE 6 December 2017 Adani’s claim that its Carmichael coal mine project will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs has been referred to the national consumer protection agency, the…
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has made $6 billion worth of new loans to coal, oil and gas projects in the 20 months since committing to the Paris climate agreement,…
MEDIA RELEASE 10 October 2017 Lawyers have described the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund’s first investment – a loan for a port upgrade in Western Australia – as a new fossil…
Green groups have reacted angrily to the news that the federal government’s $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, or NAIF, has agreed to issue its first loan to a WA…
MEDIA RELEASE 12 April 2017 The company directors of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) are likely to be in breach of their duties if they approve a loan for…
The Turnbull government's Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility has agreed to issue its first loan, but the project still needs Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's tick of approval. The fund's board…
Subsidised loan to Onslow Marine Support Base is first from controversial $5bn Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility The expansion of a port in Western Australia’s north is the first project to…
Guy and Kim Abrahams say case does not need to proceed after changes in bank’s 2017 annual report Commonwealth Bank shareholders Guy and Kim Abrahams have dropped their world-first court…
MEDIA RELEASE 21 September 2017 Commonwealth Bank shareholders Guy and Kim Abrahams have discontinued their Federal Court proceedings against the bank for failing to disclose climate change risks in annual…
MEDIA RELEASE 16 August 2017 News that Adani is being investigated in India for allegedly siphoning off hundreds of millions of dollars to offshore tax havens should put the brakes…
Consideration of loan described as ‘untenable’ after allegations hundreds of millions siphoned into tax havens The government should immediately suspend any consideration of a federal loan to Adani or an…
Australia's biggest bank just became the first financial institution to be sued over how it deals with the risk of climate change to its business. Two shareholders of the Commonwealth…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A husband and wife filed a lawsuit against No. 2 Australian lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia on Tuesday accusing it of failing to disclose investment risks associated…
TWO shareholders have lodged a world-first lawsuit against the Commonwealth Bank because it failed to mention climate change risk in its annual report last year. Lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia…
Shareholders are taking the Commonwealth Bank to court, alleging that it is misleading investors about its financial position. An Australian couple filed a climate lawsuit against one of the country’s…
In world-first case, shareholders’ move comes after the Australian financial regulator warned climate change poses material risk to entire financial system The embattled Commonwealth Bank is being sued by shareholders…
Two shareholders have launched legal action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for allegedly failing to adequately disclose the risk climate change poses to its financial position. Proceedings have been…
MEDIA RELEASE 8 August 2017 Lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia today filed proceedings in the Federal Court on behalf of shareholders Guy and Kim Abrahams against the Commonwealth Bank of…
EJA has filed proceedings against the Commonwealth Bank on behalf of shareholders for failing to adequately disclose climate change risk in the bank’s 2016 annual report.
MEDIA RELEASE 3 August 2017 A new legal opinion on climate change and trustee directors’ duties has wide-reaching ramifications for Australia’s $2.3 trillion superannuation industry, Environmental Justice Australia said today….
Environmental Justice Australia made this submission to the Senate committee looking at the Governance and operation of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF). It raises concerns about: The adequacy and…
Any loan the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Naif) gives to Adani’s Carmichael coalmine project would likely be unlawful, according to the former head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC),…
AS A self-made billionaire, Gautam Adani — the man behind Australia’s most controversial mine — is used to pulling off the impossible. Having risen from modest roots as a high-school…
MEDIA RELEASE 20 June 2017 UNESCO calls on nations to reduce emissions to protect coral reefs, but lawyers say Australia is failing to meet its international legal responsibilities to do…
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani says Australia's biggest ever coal mine is going ahead after his company announced a final investment decision on the Carmichael project. But environmental groups immediately…
MEDIA RELEASE 3 June 2017 Lawyers welcome UNESCO’s serious concerns about the coral bleaching and mortality on the Great Barrier Reef caused by climate change, but say Australia is failing…
Karla Way-McPhail, who runs mining labour and equipment companies, will not say whether she will recuse herself from Carmichael decision A director of the independent board due to provide recommendations…
Two Commonwealth agencies considering a billion dollar loan to Adani have rejected any suggestion of slack governance standards. Environmental lawyers are concerned two of the agencies' board members are also…
Deputy PM says state Labor government ‘better start standing up for Queensland’, adding Carmichael coalmine could still go ahead despite legal questions Barnaby Joyce has condemned the Queensland government’s refusal…
MEDIA RELEASE 29 May 2017 Environmental Justice Australia lawyers have written to the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) – the body that is considering giving a $1 billion loan for…
Conflict of interest concerns have been raised about two board members of federal government bodies involved in the consideration of a billion-dollar loan to Indian mining giant Adani. Adani is…
Adani’s coal plans dealt fresh blow as Queensland shunts $1bn rail loan role (Sydney Morning Herald)
Prospects for the controversial Adani coal mine have dimmed further after the Queensland government said it wanted no role in any federal loan to support the project. In a statement on Saturday,…
The future of Australia's biggest mining project in remote central Queensland is in doubt after the Queensland Government decided not to facilitate a potential $900 million federal loan. Indian coal…
MEDIA RELEASE 27 May 2017 A pledge by the Queensland government today means Adani’s plans to secure a $1 billion loan through the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) for a…
Environmental lawyers say advice means reef might finally be listed as a ‘world heritage site in danger’ The central aim of the government’s plan to protect the Great Barrier Reef…
With Westpac out, Adani's proposed Carmichael mega coal mine looks in doubt again There's a lot of love for Westpac this Friday, and plenty of anger too. It's all because…
Complaint lodged over prospect of Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding 400km rail line A $1bn federal loan to builders of a railway line between the proposed Adani coalmine and…
Loaning $900m for Adani’s central Queensland coal railway too risky, environmental lawyers say (ABC)
Environmental lawyers have warned directors of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to not fund Adani's proposed coal railway in central Queensland because it is in breach of their duties….
Directors of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility are likely to be in breach of their duties if they approve a controversial $900 million government loan for a railway to serve the…
MEDIA RELEASE 6 April 2017 If the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) offered a $1 billion taxpayer-funded loan to support a private coal-hauling railway it would breach competitive neutrality principles,…
Adani Group is facing growing pressure to reveal which company in its complex corporate web has applied for a $1 billion subsided loan from the Australian Government, amid fears money…
Australia and other nations must be held to account for obligations they have made to protect World Heritage sites such as the Great Barrier Reef, legal groups say. US-based Earthjustice…
Indian mining giant Adani has been criticised by a conservation group raising questions about its suitability to open it's central Queensland coal mine Adani's terrible international track record has raised…
MEDIA RELEASE 22 March 2017 Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) has written to the Bombay Stock Exchange, asking it to clear up confusion around which company is seeking Northern Australia Infrastructure…
In collaboration with Earthjustice, we have released a report asking the World Heritage Committee to take action in protecting the Great Barrier Reef from the devastating effects of climate change. The…
23 February 2017 Victoria will soon have brand new climate laws thanks to the Victorian Parliament passing the Victorian Climate Change Bill today. We congratulate the Andrews Government on this…
Lawyers at EJA ready to brief NAIF Board of risks of $1B Adani rail loan A detailed legal research brief by Environmental Justice Australia, being launched today, reveals Indian based…
The Victorian Government has introduced the Climate Change Bill 2016 into Parliament which if passed will repeal the Climate Change Act 2010. The Government says this legislation will make Victoria a…
