Conservation Group Calls On NAB To Move Beyond Coal

The Mackay Conservation Group (MCG) has engaged with local National Australia Bank (NAB) branches, calling on the bank to cease funding of fossil fuel projects and accusing it of “greenwashing”.

The group gathered outside the Mackay City branch last Friday, October 21 in peaceful protest as part of a nationwide movement called Move Beyond Coal which is in the midst of six weeks of activity, with 58 groups taking similar action across the country.

“We’re calling on them for not another dollar to any fossil fuel project starting with Whitehaven Coal,” said Jono Dykyj of MCG.

“We don’t want them funding the climate crisis which is already impacting the community.”

Mr Dykyj said the goal of the protest was to raise awareness with customers, staff and the public.

“This is directed at the higher-ups who make those decisions, but we think that when people find out what the company is actually doing, they’ll be disappointed,” he said.

“We want them to raise their voices, it’s a people-powered movement and we feel that we can shift the dialogue and get NAB to make those sensible and ethical decisions around climate and funding.

“Here in Mackay, we’re concerned about the impacts of climate change on the community, the economic, the health, the social impacts.

“We’re also aware that Mackay is needing to be the forefront of a transition away from a reliance on fossil fuels and that can bring lots of opportunities.

“We need to act now to halt the worst aspects of climate change but, despite those threats, there are also opportunities for our community to move forward and to grow and to prosper.”

NAB’s website states that “we support the transition to a low-carbon economy and will seek to manage our portfolio to align with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels.”

The website continues: “NAB’s updated climate strategy covers: a goal of aligning our lending portfolio to net zero emissions by 2050, working with customers to decarbonise and build climate-related resilience, managing climate risk.”

MCG has called this “greenwashing”.

“We’ve got major banking corporations doing sneaky deals with coal corporations and it really concerns me because the public don’t actually understand what’s going on,” said MCG volunteer Tonia Binsair.

“They’re putting up wonderful emissions targets and telling people they’re doing these terrific things when they’re quietly sneaking into the backroom and doing deals with corporations like Whitehaven that don’t even have reasonable emissions targets at all so we’re not going to see any changes.

“National Australia Bank really, really need to take a look at their practices and we need to move towards a better future.”

Ms Binsair approached NAB Mackay Branch Manager Liam Afflick a week before the protest, saying he was receptive to the group’s message.

“I can’t speak for him, but I don’t think he had an awareness of what was happening,” Ms Binsair said.

“It’s not only the public that needs to know but people like Liam and all of his staff, all of the staff across the country, need to know what National Australia Bank is doing.

“Personally, Liam was wonderful to talk to and I really appreciate that from him.”

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