PERTH, AUSTRALIA – Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists have today scaled a 140 metre crane next door to Woodside's headquarters in Perth, Western Australia's capital city, dropping a 25-metre banner reading "STOP WOODSIDE", calling out the fossil fuel giant as Australia's greatest climate threat.
The three Greenpeace Australia Pacific climbers began the ascent in the early hours of the morning (0300 AWST), where they attached the banner in direct line of sight from the Woodside offices. Woodside is planning to construct the most polluting fossil fuel project proposed for Australia, the Burrup Hub.
"Fossil fuel giant Woodside and its monstrous Burrup Hub gas project are Australia's biggest climate threat, and an unacceptable climate threat to all nations, including our Pacific neighbours," said David Ritter, Greenpeace Australia Pacific's CEO.
New emissions data released last week from Greenpeace Australia Pacific revealed that Woodside's Burrup Hub is Australia's biggest climate threat. If completed, the Burrup Hub would produce gas until 2070 – a full 20 years after Australia is meant to reach net zero emissions – and would cause 6.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over its lifetime.
"Fossil fuel giant Woodside is driving Australia deeper and faster into the climate crisis with its massive fossil fuel expansion plans. Woodside's dirty gas pollution knows no borders, and countries who contribute the least to the climate crisis are among those bearing the brunt of global heating," Ritter said.
Joe Palmer, a Greenpeace Australia Pacific activist who climbed the crane, said: "I've taken this action today because Woodside is brazenly contributing to the destruction of my home country.
I've seen the precious reefs at risk off the west coast and endured bushfires on the east coast.
"Each year, the world has watched in horror as our country burns, as our animals perish and our reefs bleach because of global heating, fuelled by the burning of fossil fuels from companies like Woodside. Climate change is not just an Aussie issue, it touches every corner of the globe."
The action comes on the thematic day of Energy and Industry and Just Transitions at the world's biggest climate conference, COP28, in Dubai.
"Digging up more climate-wrecking gas flies in the face of the science that says we must keep fossil fuels in the ground if we are to avoid irreversible climate catastrophe," Ritter said.
The protest comes as Woodside received approvals for its controversial seismic blasting off the coast of Western Australia, in endangered whale habitat while the pygmy whale migration season is underway and near the UNESCO-protected Ningaloo reef on Friday, just two months after a Federal Court threw out its previous approval.
Australia is one of the world's largest exporters of liquified gas. Woodside, a top-ten global oil and gas independent, is Australia's largest gas exporter. Its largest markets are Japan, South Korea and China. Two German companies, RWE and Uniper, have made off-take agreements to purchase gas from Woodside.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling on the Australian Federal Government to reject Woodside's Burrup Hub Proposal.
