08/07/2021
Climate activists have disrupted work on Adani’s (Bravus) rail construction this morning, drawing attention to the role of global banking institutions in financing Adani’s Carmichael coal project.
Just days after Adani announced it had struck coal for the first time in the Galilee Basin; Owen O’Reilly, Siobhan Neyland and Claudia Lang blocked traffic moving up and down the Carmichael Rail Corridor in protest of the project, which they say would be a climate disaster.
While their primary aim was to disrupt Adani’s construction of its railway line, the activists were also highlighting the role of Japanese bank MUFG in financing the Adani Group. They are calling on MUFG to rule out any future investments in the Adani group while the company continues operations on its Carmichael mine.
Mr O’Reilly, a pharmacist, said “Adani’s mine will greatly accelerate climate change, increasing the risk to our communities of worsening natural disasters like bushfires. MUFG’s investment in the Adani group allows Adani to continue construction of the climate-wrecking Carmichael mine. This project is completely at odds with MUFG’s Carbon Neutrality Declaration in which they claim to be supporting ‘the smooth transition to a decarbonized society’”
MUFG has been the subject of protests across Australia and Japan in the last fortnight. Climate action groups have been calling on the company to stop funding the climate crisis through their investments in the Adani Group and other companies engaged in fossil fuel extraction.
Claudia Lang, who is a farmer, highlighted another aspect of the protest. “It’s currently NAIDOC week and the theme is ‘Heal Country’. This means caring for Country for future generations, not destroying the landscape with coal mines and desecrating sacred sites in the process. The traditional owners of this land have said no to this mine and Adani needs to respect that”.
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