Australia’s biggest super funds are failing to live up to their stated support for, or commitments to, global climate goals. Of the top 40 funds by assets under management (AUM), most have voiced support for the climate goals of the Paris Agreement or set targets to reduce emissions to net zero by or before 2050. It is abundantly clear that achieving these climate goals leaves no room for expansion of the fossil fuel industry. However, 26 of the 40 funds have failed to publicly disclose any fund-wide divestment or exclusion of coal, oil or gas companies (or plans to do so), leaving them exposed to hordes of companies pursuing new climate-wrecking fossil fuel projects. While 50% of these funds (by AUM) have divested Australian coal miners Whitehaven Coal and New Hope Corporation from their active holdings, very few have divested from Australian oil and gas giants like Woodside Petroleum and Santos, which are pursuing new climate-wrecking gas projects such as Scarborough, Narrabri, Barossa and Beetaloo. Woodside’s Scarborough-Pluto gas project, for example, could result in the emissions equivalent of 15 coal-fired power stations running for 30 years.
Some super funds that claim to be ‘climate leaders,’ such as HESTA and Aware Super, are falling behind their industry peers like UniSuper, AustralianSuper, and Vision Super, which have substantially divested from polluting oil and gas producers. By continuing to invest in companies pursuing plans consistent with the failure of the Paris Agreement, funds are falling short of members’ expectations and their stated support for, and commitments to, global climate goals. Tell your super fund to stop making excuses and start showing true climate leadership by ditching dirty coal, oil and gas companies.
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Key findings
Of the 40 funds analysed, 26 have failed to publicly disclose any fund-wide divestment or exclusion of coal, oil or gas companies (or plans to do so). These funds received a score of ‘none’ in the table below.
• 14 super funds, representing over $1 trillion in AUM have either substantially divested from, have some form of exclusion on, or have plans to phase out investments in thermal coal mining companies: AustralianSuper, Commonwealth Super Corporation, Aware Super, UniSuper, Rest, HESTA, Cbus, Macquarie, Telstra Super, Vision Super, Active Super, NGS Super, Suncorp, and Media Super.
• 50% of the top 40 super funds by AUM have divested Whitehaven and New Hope, companies pursuing major new coal projects, from their active holdings. The vast majority of these funds exclude investment in Whitehaven and New Hope altogether.
• 5 super funds, representing almost $384 billion in AUM have either substantially divested from, have some form of exclusion on, or have plans to phase out oil and gas producers: AustralianSuper, UniSuper, Vision Super, NGS Super, and Suncorp. A further 2 funds have reduced exposure to these companies through publicly-disclosed low carbon approaches, but the specific impact of these policies on oil and gas investments is not disclosed: Aware Super and Cbus.
• 17% of the top 40 super funds by AUM have divested Woodside and Santos, companies pursuing major new oil and gas projects, from their active holdings.
• 28 of the 40 funds have either voiced support for the climate goals of the Paris Agreement or set targets to reduce emissions to net zero by or before 2050.
• How does your fund stack up on fossil fuel divestment?
• Coal, oil and gas divestment and exclusion activity of top 40 super funds by assets under management (AUM)