NAB: Bank on our future
NAB has a gas problem. Take action to tell NAB that banking on oil and gas stinks for our climate!
Tell NAB there's no future for oil and gas
NAB are currently reviewing their oil and gas policy, but they’re not sure if they’re ready to end their billions in finance to the oil and gas industry. Sign now to send a powerful message from the people.
Sign now to tell NAB to give oil and gas the boot!
To Ross McEwen and the NAB Board,
In light of the worsening climate crisis and local risks of oil and gas extraction, we call on you to make the right decision about your oil and gas policy by:- Ruling out financing new oil and gas projects, and
- Committing to an exit of oil and gas lending by 2030.
The IEA has stated that a pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 means no new fossil fuel projects - if you’re serious about being part of the climate solution, you will make the right decision.
Why NAB?
NAB likes to talk up its actions to tackle climate change – but in reality, NAB is funding climate destruction.
For years, NAB has poured billions into oil and gas projects, risking local communities and our climate. Between 2016 and 2019, NAB lent more than $1 billion to projects that expand the polluting gas industry [1].
Right now, the NAB Board is making a decision about whether to continue to invest in oil and gas. With enough public pressure, we can pressure the NAB Board and CEO Ross McEwan to make the right call.
You can take action:
1: 🙋Adopt your local bank branch
Adopt your local NAB branch to have friendly conversations with staff and customers to ensure they the bank rules out funding oil & gas projects to protect our future from climate change. All you need to do is get a couple of people together on a regular basis to talk to the local branch manager and staff, educating them about the risks of oil and gas, and asking them to raise the issue internally.
2: 💌 Join the National Activist Network
To shift billions away from new oil and gas projects, we need a powerful and connected network of activists who are willing to use their time, voice and passion to change the world. Each fortnight we’ll give you an action you can take in the campaign that could take 5 mins, or it could take a few hours – it’s up to you.
3: 🔒 Locked down? Here’s 4 actions you take from home
A global pandemic means we need to get creative about the ways we pressure companies. Check out these actions you can do from your house:
Take action
Banking on oil and gas stinks for our climate
Every child deserves to thrive in a safe climate, but NAB is undermining our children’s future by financing oil and gas companies during a climate crisis. Communities are already experiencing worsening bushfires, droughts and floods. Torres Strait Islanders are fighting to protect their homes from rising seas. The Great Barrier Reef is under threat from mass bleaching.
The world’s energy body (International Energy Agency) has revealed that there can be no new oil or gas projects if humanity is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 [2]. The IEA report shows that new gas projects in Australia – including those in the Beetaloo Basin, the Canning Basin, the Narrabri Gas Project, and the Scarborough project and LNG plant – are not compatible with reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and should not be financed.
NAB has committed to the Paris Agreement – now they should align their actions to be consistent with this goal. Oil and gas are dangerous fossil fuels driving climate change. Clean energy is the key to a healthy future for everyone.
Traditional Owners say no to oil and gas projects on Country.
The UN Framework on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that all Indigenous Peoples have the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent about what happens on their land. The Jumbunna Institute found that in many cases of gas companies negotiating with Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory did not follow this principle [3].Gas companies like Santos, Origin and Empire Energy have plans to drill for oil and gas by fracking hundreds of wells in remote areas of Australia. Aboriginal communities have been saying no to these fracking projects that would put sacred sites, water sources and community health at risk, but these companies are pushing ahead anyway. In fact, in the Northern Territory, 51% of the land is covered by exploration licences for oil and gas, threatening to pollute Aboriginal-owned land and destroy sacred sites [4].
No matter who the fracking corporation is, these massive gas fields have not sought proper and informed consent from Traditional Owners and would risk contaminating land, water and irreplaceably damaging cultural heritage. Communities should have the right to say what happens on their country but at the moment, the government gives more power to gas companies. NAB should not be financing oil and gas on Aboriginal land when traditional owners don’t have the right to say no.
Communities deserve clean air and water
Regional communities should have access to clean air and water. But NAB is financing companies to frack oil and gas that risk exposing children to air pollution and toxic water.
Condamine River in Queensland on fire as companies drill for Coal Seam Gas nearby (Image: Jeremy Buckingham)
Oil and gas companies risk contaminating aquifers during the gas extraction process, leaving families to drink water containing harmful chemicals [5].The National Water Commission has stated that coal seam gas mining risks having ‘significant, long-term and adverse impacts on water resources [6]. Furthermore, chemicals present in fracking wastewater are known to harm reproduction, pregnancy and child development [7].
Once extracted, gas continues to harm children at home. Cooking with gas is estimated to be responsible for up to 12% of childhood asthma [8]. A child in the home faces a comparable risk of asthma to a child living with household cigarette smoke [8].
References
[1] ‘NAB Scorecard’, Webpage as of 8 July 2021, Market Forces
[2] ‘Net Zero By 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, International Energy Agency, May 2021
[3] Jumbuna Institute
[4] Seed Mob
[5] ‘Kicking The Gas Habit: How Gas Is Harming Our Health’, p11, Climate Council, June 2021
[6] ‘Coal Seam Gas and Water Position Statement, p1, December 2010, National Water Commission
[7] ‘Kicking The Gas Habit: How Gas Is Harming Our Health’, p11, Climate Council, June 2021
[8] Ibid., p25