Press release – 5 August, 2015Sydney, August 5, 2015 – The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s decision to walk away from the proposed Carmichael mega coal mine in Queensland is the right choice, environmentally and financially, Greenpeace said today.Australia’s biggest bank has abandoned the Adani coal mine project in the Galilee basin, as reported in Fairfax media. The Commonwealth Bank confirmed that “its financial mandate with the Adani project had ended”, with Fairfax quoting sources listing environmental concerns. [1]
“The Commonwealth Bank can see the future, and it’s not powered by dirty coal,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific climate and energy Campaigner Nikola Casule.  “Intelligent investors realise that this project was never going to work. It’s unbankable, unprofitable and unconscionable. With the Commonwealth Bank giving up on the project, now is the time for the other three big Australian banks to do the same and rule out financing for the Carmichael project.”
“You have to wonder how many more things can go wrong for Carmichael before Adani chucks in the towel.  They now have no approval to operate, nobody to fund it and are sending their contractors home.  This project is not worth the paper it’s written on."
Approved in July 2014, Carmichael would be Australia’s largest coal mine and one of the biggest in the world.  On the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef, it would require massive seafloor dredging and port expansion, resulting in hundreds more coal ships through Reef waters. At 28,000 hectares, it would also produce 121 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions yearly at maximum production, driving climate change – the greatest threat to the Reef.
“International bank Standard Chartered is now standing alone as the only financial institution that has not cut links with this uneconomical, environmentally disastrous coal mine.  With the overturning of Carmichael’s approval and the withdrawal of Commonwealth Bank’s involvement in this week alone, it is beyond time for them to publicly distance themselves from this doomed project.”
[1]http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/adani-and-commonwealth-bank-part-ways-casting-further-doubt-on-carmichael-coal-project-20150805-gisd1l.html
For interview contact  Dr Nikola Čašule Climate and Energy Campaigner
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Tel: 02 9263 0355
Mob: 0428 769 307