David Ritter Profile picture
Feb 23 25 tweets 9 min read
Want to know more about why AGL - Australia’s biggest climate polluter - has been in the news so much this week?
@mcannonbrookes's recent bid to take over the company is the result of a long line of business failures. Here's a 🧵: #auspol #energytwitter
To start, a reminder - @AGLAustralia is our country’s biggest climate polluter.
AGL alone is responsible for almost one tenth (8%) of our annual domestic greenhouse gas emissions. To protect our climate it is imperative AGL shifts its business model.
There has been ample opportunity for AGL to transition its business model away from the destruction of our planet. Instead, AGL has resisted change and ignored the clear shift in the global energy market, consumer expectations - and scientific warnings.
AGL has openly acknowledged awareness of its oversized emissions and the climate crisis but is failing to take responsibility for the key role the company could play in a safer future.
But it wasn’t always this way.
In the mid-2010s, AGL’s CEO Andy Vesey had a plan: AGL would respond to rapidly changing business conditions, by transitioning away from generating electricity from burning dirty coal and would embrace renewable energy.
But Vesey and his future focus did not last. His resignation came amidst pressure from pro-coal politicians and lobbyists on AGL. Under new CEO Brett Redman, AGL made the unwise decision to double-down on dead-end coal. abc.net.au/news/2018-08-2…
Instead of responding to the clear market shifts around it, AGL increased the amount of electricity it generates from renewable energy by a total of around 1% between 2016-2021.
That’s less than 0.2% per year.
2019datacentre.agl.com.au/infrastructure…
Fast forward to 2020. AGL’s fortunes were in steep decline with a 22% fall in underlying full-year profit and a gloomy outlook for 2021.
Then CEO Brett Redman noted the ‘considerable uncertainty’ of the company’s operations.
smh.com.au/business/compa…
In February 2021, AGL’s share price hit a record 52-week low, with underlying profit dropping 27% after the company posted a $2.27 billion bottom-line loss. Brett Redman suggested a business model restructure could be on the cards: afr.com/companies/ener…
Also in February it was revealed that AGL was Australia’s worst violator of environmental regulations for coal-burning power stations and had the highest number of power failures (coal is extremely unreliable):
smh.com.au/environment/cl…
In late March 2021 AGL proposed a demerger to separate its coal-burning power stations from the retail arm. Investors were unimpressed. This was merely cosmetic:
afr.com/policy/energy-…
Investor concern increased when less than a month later, AGL’s CEO Brett Redman abruptly resigned, effective immediately. This boardroom turmoil is a clear sign of a company in trouble. smh.com.au/business/compa…
Some time in early May (presumably amidst the chaos) someone inside AGL decided to sue @GreenpeaceAP for parodying the company’s logo. theguardian.com/australia-news…
A group of leading environmental and human rights charities condemned AGL’s legal action as an attack on civil society and a direct affront to free speech. Privately, leading business figures wondered what on earth AGL thought they were doing: probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2021/05/e…
AGL overwhelmingly lost their case - but did succeed in generating enormous and global publicity about their status as Australia’s worst climate polluter. Presumably this had not been AGL’s intention in bringing the action: news.com.au/finance/busine…
Many of the articles about the case clearly highlighted AGL’s appalling contribution to the climate crisis in Australia, falling profits,‘greenwashed’ marketing image and the need for a change.
abc.net.au/news/2021-05-0…
Many observers also noted that AGL seemed more concerned about image than reality. @mcannonbrookes tweeted that it was “quite amusing that AGL isn’t disputing the facts…it’s disputing the use of its logo. Good to see the order of their priorities”:
Back on the internal crisis, on releasing further details of its demerger in June 2021, AGL's plan was met with ‘a humiliating reception’.
Investors recoiled, resulting in another 10% loss in market value: afr.com/companies/ener…
AGL Chair Peter Botten has openly admitted that AGL’s leadership failed to anticipate changes in the energy market. Botten has also acknowledged that the company is at a true ‘inflection point’: reneweconomy.com.au/inflection-poi…
AGL posted a $2 billion loss for the 2020/21 financial year due to its stubborn refusal to work out a plan to appropriately phase out coal: businessinsider.com.au/agl-coal-plant…
AGL’s own customers can see the writing on the wall - again hitting AGL’s bottom line and shareholders. In August 2021, Tomago (Australia’s biggest energy user and AGL’s biggest customer) announced it would aim to be powered by ‘mostly renewables’ by 2029. afr.com/policy/energy-…
In September 2021 at AGL’s AGM, the company faced an unprecedented investor revolt, as 55% of shareholders defied the board and supported a motion to set climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement:
smh.com.au/business/compa…
With all this context, it’s not surprising such a troubled company would become subject to a potential hostile takeover:
theguardian.com/business/2022/…
Energy experts have confirmed there would be no adverse risk to power price or supply from the Brookfield/Grok takeover and the closure of AGL’s polluting coal-burning power stations by 2030:
afr.com/companies/ener…
The continued transition to clean, green energy, powered by renewables and batteries is inevitable.
The future safety of our planet depends on the speed at which we act.
It’s time for AGL, whoever owns it, to commit to shutting coal by 2030. #auspol #energytwitter

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More from @David_Ritter

Feb 15
Senate Estimates has revealed the Morrison Government spent over $31m in taxpayer dollars on PR for its non-existent climate 'plan'.
When we buy something, we like to know what we're getting for our money - so let’s dig down a bit into the reality of their ‘efforts’ 🧵: #auspol
The Morrison government’s advertising campaign centres around the dodgy claim that Australia is ‘making positive energy’ - whatever the hell that weird phrase is meant to mean:
theguardian.com/media/2022/feb…
In reality, the federal government has spent years actively blocking or dismantling local and global progress on emissions reductions - to the point we have become embarrassingly isolated on the world stage:
sbs.com.au/news/australia…
Read 20 tweets
Jan 31
Today the Australian govt is due to report to UNESCO on its 'efforts' to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
Morrison and his predecessors have had numerous expert warnings about the biggest threat to the Reef - which they've ignored.
Time @UNESCO were told the truth.
A thread:
As long as Australia has no credible target or strategy for slashing emissions & continues to promote fossil fuels, the de facto true policy of the Australian government is the destruction of the Reef from climate impacts, plus public relations spin to deflect scrutiny and anger.
For background, today's reporting follows the Australian government’s cynical lobbying late last year to stop UNESCO listing the Reef as ‘in danger’, despite widespread expert consensus that as a matter of scientific reality, the Reef is in mortal peril:
nature.com/articles/d4158…
Read 23 tweets
Nov 24, 2021
Yesterday, @ScottMorrisonMP mentioned he “did a jig” on hearing of Woodside’s toxic Scarborough gas project moving forward.
This is absolutely shameful, as gas is dangerous & harmful to Australians, our wildlife, land & oceans, & our precious global climate.
Here’s a 🧵on why:
To start, gas is a dangerous fossil fuel that is one of the major drivers of climate change:
theguardian.com/environment/20…
As an example, the Scarborough project that Scott Morrison is choosing to celebrate, is forecast to produce an extra 1.6 billion tonnes of climate emissions - equivalent to building 15 new coal-burning power stations:
reneweconomy.com.au/woodsides-plan…
Read 18 tweets
Nov 22, 2021
Yesterday Woodside told the ASX it had reached Final Investment Decision to open up the Scarborough offshore gas field - part of the most climate-polluting project ever proposed in Australia. It's a big deal and could have disastrous consequences for WA and the world.
Here’s why:
Let’s start with the magnificent wildlife that is at risk. The Scott Reef complex is home to pygmy blue whales, endangered turtles and numerous other wonderful creatures, all of which are threatened by Woodside’s Scarborough project:
aims.gov.au/sites/default/…
Then there’s the small matter of the global climate emergency… The IEA has recommended that there should be no new gas projects at all, to give the world a chance of a safer climate. On that logic alone this mega beast should not proceed:
iea.org/reports/net-ze…
Read 17 tweets
Nov 15, 2021
The real life consequences of climate inaction for nature and wildlife can get lost in the detail of policy, conferences and targets.
So, let's take a look at the real impact on an icon.
What does Scott Morrison's climate policy really mean for our Great Barrier Reef?
A thread:
First some history. Back in 1981, the Great Barrier Reef was declared as World Heritage under UNESCO. Australia promised the world that “to the utmost of its resources” our nation would “do all it can” to protect the Reef: whc.unesco.org/en/conventiont…
Flash forward to early 2016, the first of recent mass bleaching events occurred on the Great Barrier Reef. Scientists estimated 22% of coral was killed, clearly linked this to climate change and noted the need for urgent action to counter impacts. nature.com/articles/d4158…
Read 20 tweets
Nov 12, 2021
Today Australia was awarded the Fossil of the COP - a ‘prize’ given by a coalition of civil society orgs to the worst performing country throughout the #COP26 climate conference.
Here’s a recap of how @ScottMorrisonMP earned such a disappointing award:
The Morrison government’s failures began before #COP26, with its net zero ‘plan’ which did not meet the ambitions required for emissions cuts this decade, or include legislation or a mechanism to ever reach net zero. It was derided across the world:
On the eve of #cop26 at the G20 leaders summit Morrison doubled down on his lacklustre approach and Australia was accused of blocking global progress and pushing back on phasing out fossil fuels:
reneweconomy.com.au/morrison-fumbl…
Read 17 tweets

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