Japanese steel giants Nippon Steel and JFE Steel faced protests at their Australian offices today over their decision to buy a stake in Whitehaven Coal’s Blackwater coal mine.
Activists dressed as koalas gathered at the offices of Nippon Steel and JFE Steel in Sydney just hours after Whitehaven Coal announced the news of the joint venture partnership to the ASX today (August 22nd).
The MoveBeyondCoal movement has been pressuring global steelmakers not to enter into any new joint venture partnerships with Whitehaven Coal over concerns that Whitehaven Coal’s proposed new and expanded coal projects pose an unacceptable threat to the environment, cultural heritage and the global climate. In July Indian steel giant JSW Steel denied it was bidding for a stake in the Blackwater project, following sustained pressure from MoveBeyondCoal.
Whitehaven Coal is planning six new or expanded coal projects that would see the company more than double its current coal production. A new report launched this week by an alliance of climate and nature conservation groups found Whitehaven’s proposed coal projects are slated to destroy 7,594 hectares of endangered koala habitat - more than any other coal company in Australia.
Protesters were quick to condemn Nippon Steel and JFE Steel for partnering with ‘climate-wrecking, koala-killing Whitehaven Coal’ and committed to keep working to stop Whitehaven and its partners developing any of Whitehaven’s proposed new coal projects.
Fahimah Badrulisham, organiser for MoveBeyondCoal said:
“Nippon Steel and JFE Steel have trashed their reputations by getting in bed with Australia’s worst coal company, Whitehaven Coal. Whitehaven Coal has no business plans other than to keep expanding coal for decades into the future and mine coal into the next century. This completely ignores the science of climate change and flies in the face of global efforts to solve the climate crisis.
“By partnering with Whitehaven Coal, Nippon Steel and JFE Steel have proven they are not serious about decarbonizing their businesses and addressing climate change. Nippon Steel and JFE Steel are making themselves partners in Whitehaven’s climate crimes by giving Whitehaven the money it desperately needs to dig new coal mines that will cook the climate and put all of us at increased risk of deadly fires, heatwaves and floods.
“Ironically, Nippon Steel likes to use koalas in its corporate campaigns, while it’s helping drive the koala to extinction by partnering with Whitehaven Coal - a company that is planning to clear thousands of hectares of endangered koala habitat for new coal mines.
“Nippon Steel and JFE Steel have saddled themselves to a toxic company that operate like complete cowboys. Whitehaven Coal has been fined or investigated 35 times for every environmental breach you could think of. Whitehaven’s long rap sheet of reckless and illegal behaviour is proof this company doesn’t care about protecting the environment or the communities impacted by its coal projects. This is a company that has destroyed sacred sites of the Gomeroi people and stolen a billion litres of water from farmers during a drought. Whitehaven doesn’t even care about its own workers. The company is in court right now for an allegedly negligent blast that injured workers at a neighbouring mine. One of the first things Whitehaven did since taking over the Blackwater and Daunia mines in Queensland is slash the workforce.
“For the sake of a safe and liveable climate, Whitehaven Coal’s new coal projects must be stopped. Any business partnering with Whitehaven Coal is taking on extreme financial, reputational and legal risk and will face serious community opposition.”
Photo and video of the protests at the offices of JFE Steel and Nippon Steel are available here.
Further background
The Blackwater deal
In October 2023 Whitehaven Coal spent $6.5 billion acquiring BHP’s Blackwater and Daunia coal mines, located in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. This move helped inspire a massive revolt at Whitehaven’s 2023 AGM from shareholders upset at Whitehaven’s reckless coal expansion strategy. Whitehaven has since been courting global steelmakers to take a minority stake in the Blackwater mine, and help lower production costs. Whitehaven also recently fired 192 workers from the Blackwater and Daunia mines.
Whitehaven Coal
Whitehaven Coal is the biggest undiversified coal mining company listed on the Australian share market and one of the most controversial resources companies in the country. Whitehaven are planning to more than double their current coal production with six new or expanded coal projects that would see them mining coal into the next century. These projects include three thermal coal mines in development (Narrabri Stage 3, Vickery, and Maules Creek Extension), in addition to two of the largest greenfield metallurgical and thermal coal mine proposals in Australia (Winchester South and Blackwater South) and a massive proposed expansion of the Blackwater mine (Blackwater Mine North Extension Project).
Whitehaven’s plans to spend over AU$4.5 billion on new coal projects by the end of the decade are completely at odds with global climate goals. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said there can be no new or expanded coal mines, including metallurgical coal, in order to achieve the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to 1.5’C and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Furthermore, the IEA says existing sources of metallurgical coal production “are sufficient to cover demand through to 2050.” Whitehaven’s coal expansion plans are inconsistent with legislated state and federal emissions targets in Australia, where it operates all of its mines, as well as those in its primary customer countries: Japan, Korea and Taiwan. To justify these plans, Whitehaven refers to coal demand scenarios that would push global temperatures well above 2.4ºC of global warming. This unreasonably optimistic outlook for coal demand sees Whitehaven exacerbating its exposure to transition risks.
Whitehaven has a well-documented track record of environmental destruction and law-breaking that has made them one of Australia’s most controversial and frequently litigated coal companies. As of February of this year, the company was still in court “for blasting in an incompetent manner” that impacted a miner at a different site. The company has been found guilty of, or investigated for, breaches of the law on at least 35 occasions. These environmental breaches have threatened local livelihoods and critical habitat for endangered species, including the koala, which has now been listed as endangered and is at risk of extinction due to habitat loss. A new report has found Whitehaven Coal’s proposed coal projects are slated to destroy 7,594 hectares of endangered koala habitat.
Analysis from the Institute of Energy (IEEFA) found Whitehaven has committed more water pollution offences than any other coal company in Australia. Farmers near Whitehaven’s current coal mines are deeply concerned that Whitehaven’s water use is drying out streams and bores. Local farmers have been repeatedly outbid on water licenses with Whitehaven paying five times the market value at times for water. In 2021, Whitehaven pleaded guilty to illegally taking one billion litres of water during a severe drought in New South Wales.
Whitehaven’s huge pipeline of proposed new coal projects has made the company a major target of the Australian climate movement that successfully delayed Adani’s Carmichael coal mine for almost a decade and caused significant disruption and reputational damage to its financiers and business partners. Whitehaven’s projects have faced a multitude of legal challenges from concerned community groups, including a current challenge to its Winchester South coal mine in the Queensland land court.
