SYDNEY – 11 August, 2017 — 350.org Australia welcomes today’s news that the Commonwealth Bank – the last of Australia’s Big Four banks to rule out the Adani Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland – said it “can confirm that it will not be amongst the banks who have been, or will be, asked to consider financing” the Adani project.

“While the Commonwealth Bank has taken a round about way to say it, it’s clear that it, along with the other three of Australia’s Big Four banks, will not be investing in the highly toxic Adani Carmichael coal project,” said 350.org Australia CEO Blair Palese.

“The fact that Commbank, NAB, Westpac and ANZ will not be associated with the Adani coal project speaks volumes about what risky and untouchable project it is at a time when we are already seeing dangerous climate change impacts such as the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef and a rapid move from coal to clean energy globally.”

With the Commonwealth Bank now moving away from the project, 24 banks around the world have said no to the Adani coal project, including some of the most notable in the world such as Deutsche, Barclays and CitiBank.

More than 180 groups around Australia have formed as part of the nation-wide Stop Adani movement and thousands of protests have taken place at Commonwealth Bank offices and branches over the last two years.

“It is fortuitous that the Commonwealth Bank story has come out on the day of hearings in Canberra around the federal Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund (NAIF), which is considering a loan of taxpayer money to support rail construction for the Adani project,” said Palese.

“At the moment, it is only our federal and Queensland governments that are willing to back this massive coal project with virtually no commercial investor willing to touch it.”

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Lou Fraser 0438 993 068

For interview: Blair Palese | 350.org Australia CEO | 0414 659 511