• Already know you want to take action? Find and sign up for the New Zealand action nearest you.

Help seize the moment. Join one of these Global Divestment Mobilisation events happening near you between May 5 and 13.  They’re organised by people in your community to highlight the deadly climate impacts being driven by the fossil fuel industry and call on our local institutions to take a moral stand by breaking off their ties with this industry.

In our region, the biggest new planned coal project is the Adani Group’s proposed new giant Carmichael coal mine in Northern Queensland. Despite the massive additional greenhouse gas emissions this project would cause, the Australian Government is bending over backwards to try to ensure that it goes ahead.

Banks have an important part to play in funding – or deciding not to fund – such climate-destroying projects. Late last week, campaigners on both sides of the Tasman secured a major victory when Westpac rewrote its coal project lending policy to effectively rule out lending to the Adani project – the latest of a number of banks to directly or indirectly with draw from funding the project. We know that the pressure New Zealand activists have put on Westpac over their funding of coal projects played a major part in securing this victory.

Logo of the joint 350 Aotearoa-Coal Action Network Aotearoa “Westpac – Dump Denniston Coal” campaign, 2014

But the project is far from defeated yet, and so Australian activists are calling out for international support to help step up the pressure. Here are link to the actions you can take part in – RSVP to your nearest action for full details:

Auckland, Wednesday 10 May: http://act.350.org/event/gdd2017/13519/

Wellington, Tuesday 9 May: http://act.350.org/event/gdd2017/13521/

Christchurch, Sunday 7 May: http://act.350.org/event/gdd2017/13522/

Dunedin, Friday 12 May: http://act.350.org/event/gdd2017/13520/

The post May 5-13: Join The Global Divestment Mobilisation! appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

• Don’t need any convincing to sign on? Go straight to http://dotheparispledge.org/

BankTrack, the international NGO tracking the investments of private sector banks and their effect on people and the planet, has recently launched a major new campaign calling on banks to sign a pledge to quit coal, in time for the Paris climate conference in November. Coal Action Network Aotearoa has signed on to support this growing movement to tell banks to take this pledge and quit financing coal – and you can too.

The campaign is called “Banks: Do The Paris Pledge” and is part of BankTrack’s long-running campaign to build pressure on banks to exit the coal industry, based on its severe impacts on climate and health. Banks are invited to pledge to produce a phase-out plan for ending their financing for the coal industry (both mining and burning).

Please check out the website at http://dotheparispledge.org and consider signing up as a supporter, and encouraging your friends and networks to do likewise. There are options both both individuals and organisations to sign on.

The post Tell Banks To Do The Paris Pledge To Quit Coal appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

By contrast Westpac has been less savvy.  Heralded in 2011 as a leader of sustainability, since November 2013 the bank has been repeatedly embarrassed by media coverage of protests triggered by its lending practices.  Westpac’s loans to Bathurst, the company poised to open-cast mine the Denniston Plateau  conservation area for coal, despite significant environmental opposition, make the bank’s efforts to cut the climate footprint  climate impact of its office operations seem tokenistic. Such ‘green-wash’ is easily seen as hypocritical and 94% of NZers say they “get annoyed when products try to pass themselves off as greener than they really are” (source: Colmar Brunton, 2011).

Right on the point, you might think, but not a new criticism – until you discover that this article appeared in the blog of the Marketing Association of New Zealand. The article Scrubbing up grubby brands and clean slate competition is well worth reading, and it’s very noticeable that Westpac is now being called out for its greenwashing even within the business community.

If you’d like to increase the pressure on Westpac, please sign the CANA/350.org.nz  letter to Westpac CEO Peter Clare and get involved in the campaign for Westpac to divest from Bathurst Resources.

The post Stern Criticism of Westpac – From A Surprising Quarter appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Today Westpac customers queued at the Wellington Cuba Street Westpac branch, forming a continuous line and symbolically withdrawing a dollar to send Westpac a simple message: Westpac customers do not want their money financing climate change.

Participants were quickly forced to leave by Westpac staff despite being Westpac’s own customers.

The action takes place as part of a nationwide week of action initiated by 350 Aotearoa and Coal Action Network Aotearoa. Thirteen cities and towns around New Zealand are holding actions this week demanding Westpac live up to its own sustainability and climate policies and stop financing Bathurst Resources, the company which plans to open a series of new coal mines on the Denniston Plateau.

“New Zealanders have sent more than 1300 letters to Westpac over the past few weeks.  Westpac’s response so far has been that they won’t stop financing and that their climate change policies mean supporting a transition to a low-carbon future. A transition means seeing out existing mines, not opening 5 new ones as Bathurst plans to do,” said 350 spokesperson Ashlee Gross.

“So we’re here today to tell Westpac that if they stall on taking action on climate change, we’ll stall their business.”

An increasing number of major reports have looked at the planet’s remaining “global carbon budget” and highlighted that fossil fuel companies are planning to dig up five times the amount of coal, oil and gas that we can afford to burn in order to keep global warming to the internationally agreed limit of 2 degrees C.

“Westpac claims that sustainability is at the heart of their culture. Westpac needs to prove that their sustainability and climate change policies are more than greenwash,” said Coal Action Network Aotearoa spokesperson Tim Jones.

“If Westpac continue to ignore their customers the next step for many will be to switch banks.”

For more coverage and photos from the action see http://350.org.nz/wednesday-westpac-dump-coal-action-in-wellington/

The post Customers queue to demand end to Westpac support of Denniston coal mine appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Over the past few weeks over 1100 of us have sent a letter to Westpac asking them to stop funding climate change and coal mining on the Denniston Plateau. We’ve also visited their offices and branches in Auckland and Wellington to ask them to live up to their promises on sustainability.

With time running out for the beautiful and unique Denniston Plateau, it’s time to really put the pressure on Westpac to start walking the talk on climate change.

That’s why Coal Action Network Aotearoa and 350 Aotearoa are kicking off December with:

Westpac Week of Action
2nd-8th December
In a town or city near you!

From setting up “climate crime scenes” outside your local Westpac branch, to attention grabbing photos and stunts, we need you to get creative in towns across New Zealand.

How can you get involved?

There are already 8 regions planning activities. So if you’re in Auckland, Warkworth, Wellington, Nelson, Motueka, Takaka, Christchurch, or Southland, get in touch with your local organiser and join or help organise an event! The more people involved, the louder the message.

Not a group in your area already planning an event? If you are keen to help organise a Week of Action activity email us at coalactionnetwork@gmail.com. It can be as simple as a photo outside your Westpac branch or creating a climate crime scene, or you can come up with your own ideas.

Help make the Week of Action even bigger by inviting your friends to the Facebook event and forwarding this email.

And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to send a letter to Westpac CEO, Peter Clare: westpacdumpcoal.org.nz

Westpac says “we’ve put sustainability at the heart of our culture” and “our commitment to the environment covers our own operations as well as the impact of their products and services”.

Yet Westpac is financing Bathurst Resources’ plans to create one of New Zealand’s largest new contributors to climate change, and destroy the Denniston Plateau.

Let’s let them know that they need live up to their claims and stop funding climate destruction or risk losing their reputation and their customers.

The post Time is running out for the Denniston Plateau – Join the Westpac Week of Action appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Westpac recently emailed a response to some of the many people who have been calling on them to remove their financial support from Bathurst Resources Ltd. They delegated the South Island Regional Manager, Gina Dellabarca, to make this response.

Unfortunately, the response calls further into question the truth behind Westpac’s own policies and commitments. In fact, our concerns around Westpac funding Bathurst Resources’ planned Denniston open cast mine, which, along with their other mines planned for the area, would release at least 218 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, have not been addressed at all.

Here is the response:

As Regional Manager, South Island, I have been asked to reply to your letter dated 15 October 2013 to our CEO regarding Bathurst Resources.

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns. I want to confirm as an organisation, we are committed to a lower carbon economy. As a society, this will take some time and Westpac takes its responsibility as a large corporate seriously, balancing the needs of the community in terms of economic growth, jobs, incomes and sustainable prosperity.

Westpac recognises that the transformation of the energy sector over the coming years will present a range of challenges. To achieve that, we believe a balanced approach is required and we will continue to work with all of our customers to help make this transition happen.

Regards,
Gina Dellabarca

Gina says Westpac is committed to a lower carbon economy, and that they take their responsibility as a large corporate seriously. They also claim on their website that “we’ve put sustainability at the heart of our culture” …“our commitment to the environment covers our own operations as well as the impact of their products and services”.

That sounds good. But having a commitment implies that your actions align with it. Gina’s answer doesn’t address how Westpac financing a new open cast coal mine, the biggest new threat to climate change in New Zealand, can possibly be consistent with this commitment.

Gina says that the transition to a lower carbon economy will take time. The IPCC says emissions need to peak before 2020. The carbon budget shows that to stay within 2 degrees of warming 80% of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. This means that coal has be phased out by 2030. That’s a big enough challenge only taking into account existing coal mines.

It will certainly take a lot more time, time we don’t have, if banks continue financing new destructive fossil fuel projects. As the Unburnable Carbon report shows, it’s in banks’ own financial interest to stop.

Gina seeks to justify Westpac ignoring their own policies by using a familiar and tired argument of having to balance ‘economic growth, jobs, incomes and sustainable prosperity’. This argument doesn’t add up. As Gina will know, recent events on the West Coast have proven the unsustainable, boom and bust nature of the coal industry. More than 500 layoffs occurred as a result of the decline of the price of coal. Even Don Elder, previous CEO of Solid Energy, has acknowledged publicly that coal mining is a sunset industry.

So why does Westpac feel it needs to ‘balance’, or rather ditch, its own commitments to act on climate change for an industry which provides unsustainable job security and has, at best, a shaky financial case? If Westpac was truly committed to acting for future generations, it should be divesting from coal and other fossil fuels and putting that investment into the renewable sector.

Climate change brings with it rising sea levels, drowning coastal cities, food and water shortages, extreme weather events with much loss of life and threats to human health, and the displacement of millions of refugees. Commitments and policies such as the ones Westpac boasts are a bare minimum of what we should we demand of large corporations. How long will Westpac make a mockery of its own commitment by continuing to invest in fossil fuels?

The joint Coal Action Network Aotearoa/350 Aotearoa campaign to get Westpac to dump Bathurst Resources’ destructive and climate changing Denniston coal mine is growing stronger, with many activities planned around the country in the coming weeks. Make sure you send your letter to Westpac at www.westpacdumpcoal.org.nz.

The question for Westpac remains; Are your policies all greenwash, or will you walk the talk and stop funding climate destruction?

The post Westpac: All greenwash, or will they walk the talk and dump coal? appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Press Release
In the wake of the Environment Court’s approval of Bathurst’s opencast mine on the beautiful Denniston plateau, 350 Aotearoa and Coal Action Network Aotearoa today renewed their call for Westpac Bank to drop its support for the mine.

Already, more than 800 people have sent letters to Westpac as part of the “Westpac dump Denniston coal” campaign, launched last week in Auckland. This week saw a temporary “climate change crime scene” outside a main Westpac branch in Wellington catching the eye of lunchtime passersby, and many similar protests are expected to roll out across the country in the coming weeks as the campaign picks up.

“Westpac prides itself on its so-called ‘sustainability’ policy, but a growing number of people aren’t buying it. If Westpac continues to lend money to Bathurst for its dirty, climate-changing mine at Denniston, its sustainability claims will be exposed as pure greenwash,” said Kristin Gillies of Coal Action Network.

“The government has given its resource consent, but that’s far from the same thing as New Zealanders giving their stamp of approval to digging up the Denniston Plateau and putting 218 million tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. We’re calling on Westpac to listen when its customers say they don’t want to be financing climate change,” said Ashlee Gross of 350.

The groups took issue with comments from the Buller District Mayor Garry Howard who has been arguing that Denniston coal is more environmentally responsible than Indian or Chinese coal. They noted  that “unfortunately there is no such thing as environmentally responsible coal.”   The Mayor also deliberately confused coking coal with thermal coal.

They highlight that the resource consent process takes no account of climate change.   As the recently released IPCC report confirms, we need to peak global emissions within the next few years in order to have a credible chance of keeping global warming to 2 degrees C, our best chance to avoid major climate tipping points.  That means taking a serious stance on seeing out existing coalmines, but saying no to new ones.

Write to Westpac www.westpacdumpcoal.org.nz

The post As Environment Court approves Denniston mine, all eyes on Westpac appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Today CANA and 350 have jointly launched a campaign to persuade Westpac to stop lending to Bathurst Resources

Bathurst Resources wants to turn the spectacular Denniston Plateau into a large open cast coal mine. And Westpac is helping to finance them.

Westpac’s financing helps Bathurst Resources pursue their plans to mine up to 84 million tonnes of coal on the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau and along the adjacent Buller plateau. This would put another 218 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.  

Tell Westpac you want them to stop funding climate change, especially coal mining on the Denniston Plateau.

Act Now To Save Denniston

Use this easy online form to send a letter to Westpac now.

Tell them to call in their loan and stop extending financing to Bathurst Resources Ltd.

Spread The Word With These Campaign Resources

• Download, read and share our campaign flyer
• Download and share the campaign logo
• Follow CANA and 350 on Twitter for the latest campaign news.

Find Out More About Denniston And Bathurst

• The Westport Story: Right Of Reply From Coal Action Network
• Forest & Bird Denniston Campaign
• Denniston: Too Precious To Mine (video)
• CANA’s Denniston article archive
• CANA’s Bathurst Resources article archive

The post Westpac: Dump Denniston appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.