MELBOURNE: One of Australia’s largest pension funds has backed arguments by the government and the nation’s big energy companies that natural gas will be needed as a bridging fuel in the transition to cleaner power.
HESTA has assets of A$83bil and holds stakes of at least 0.5% in the country’s two biggest natural-gas producers, Woodside Energy Ltd and Santos Ltd.
While the fund recognises the need for the fuel, it is continuing to push big polluters to move away from fossil fuels and reach net-zero goals, chief executive officer Debby Blakey said at the Australian Financial Review Environmental, Social and Governance Summit.
Blakey said there was “enormous urgency” in the transition and capital would flow to the right companies tackling the issue.
“This need for a timely and orderly transition is absolutely critical, so gas will play a role,” she said in Sydney on Wednesday.
Australia’s massive pension fund industry is seen playing a key role in urging producers to tackle the emissions that have helped make the nation one of the world’s biggest per-capita polluters.
That comes after the A$72bil liquefied natural gas export industry last month welcomed a government plan supporting the fuel’s use beyond 2050, despite commitments to zero out emissions by that date.
In March, HESTA said it had urged Woodside to consider adding new directors with skills suited to climate-related challenges.
The company’s recent appointment Anthony O’Neill – a former Anglo American Plc executive – was not one of the directors the fund had put forward, Blakey said. — Bloomberg
