BRISBANE: 350.org Australia strongly opposes Environment Minister Greg Hunt’s decision to approve the dredging and dumping of Abbot Point for major coal exports.

Responding to the decision, 350.org Australia’s community campaigner Moira Williams issued the following statement:

“The Turnbull Government can’t seriously sign on to deals which limit climate damage to 2 degrees and then give a green light to massive coal export projects which guarantee that the 2 degree target can never be met.

“The Abbot Point project is a gateway for foreign mining companies to unlock one of the largest stores of climate-wrecking carbon on the planet – the Galilee Basin coal mines.

“It’s ludicrous that Hunt has given the tick to a project which has no money, no social license, is universally hated, will wreck one of the greatest wonders of the natural world and which has been rejected by most of the world’s largest banks.

“With coal prices at an all time low, support for climate action and protecting the Great Barrier Reef at an all time high, the Turnbull Government is treading a dangerous line in approving this climate and reef-wrecking mega coal project. Their actions will come back to bite them at the ballot box next year,” concluded Williams.

Polling  conducted by Essential Research and commissioned by 350.org Australia has found that two thirds of Australians believe coal mining should be phased because it causes global warming and damages the Great Barrier Reef.

Contact: Charlie Wood 0427 485 233 charlie@350.org.au