Documents show that on March 23 Adani Infrastructure made a deposit payment of $1.6 million to the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) to secure its water license for the Carmichael mine.
This payment was evidenced by a direct credit transaction statement from CommBank, and an email from DNRM Finance confirming the payment.
“Despite their public commitment to take action to limit global warming to no more than two degrees, the Commonwealth Bank is secretly working with Adani to facilitate the construction of the largest coal mine in Australia,” Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said.
“CommBank cannot be allowed to continue their relationship with dirty, polluting fossil fuels, while at the same time telling their customers and the public that their hands are clean and they are serious about preventing climate change.
“This transaction, which the bank has kept a secret until now, shows that rather than living up to their word on building a better future for the next generation, CommBank are not only directly facilitating the destruction of Australian treasures like the Great Barrier Reef - they are also profiting from it.
“This makes a mockery of CommBank’s commitment to support the Paris climate agreement and the spirit of the comments made by its CEO, Ian Narev, before a parliamentary inquiry in March this year.
“Globally, coal is on the way out. Yet not only was CommBank the biggest lender to fossil fuel projects since the Paris agreement was signed, it now has its fingerprints all over the most destructive and controversial coal mine proposal in Australia”
CommBank lent $3.8 billion to fossil fuel projects in 2016. Greenpeace is calling on the Commonwealth Bank to cease its relationship with Adani’s Carmichael project and make an immediate commitment to no longer financing new coal projects. Last week, after a campaign by civil society groups, Westpac announced it would no longer fund projects in new coal basins and limit lending to new coal mines in existing basins to coal with an energy content in the top 15 per cent - effectively ruling out the Galilee Basin, and the Carmichael mine.
“CommBank’s CEO, Ian Narev, has told the Australian people he understands the public are sick of banks saying one thing and doing another,” Casule said.
“And yet despite all their rhetoric CommBank continues to profiteer from the destruction of our environment and theft of treasures like the Reef from future generations.
It’s time for CommBank to say no to new coal in Australia before it’s too late.”
For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org