The CEO of Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer has hit out against young activists who are ideologically opposed to fossil fuels, suggesting their actions are insincere and accusing them of ordering cheap online consumer goods “without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions”.
Meg O’Neill, the boss of gas giant Woodside Energy, made her comments during a panel discussion at the three-day annual conference of industry group Australian Energy Producers (AEP), which kicked off on Tuesday in Brisbane.
She was interviewed by Sky News journalist Chris Uhlmann who asked the fossil fuel executive if she believed people knew where their electricity came from.
“Most people hit a switch and expect the lights to come on,” O’Neill said. “It’s been a fascinating journey to watch the discussion, particularly amongst young people who have this very ideological, almost zealous view of, you know, fossil fuels bad, renewables good, that are happily plugging in their devices, ordering things from [online fast-fashion platforms] Shein and Temu – having, you know, one little thing shipped to their house without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions.”
“So that human impact and the consumer’s role in driving energy demand and emissions absolutely is a missing space in the conversation.”
The reactions were swift; Greens Senator, Larissa Waters, criticised the statement Tuesday afternoon on ABC Afternoon Briefing saying it was “laughable” that a “very well paid, very wealthy fossil fuel executive” should blame young people for the climate crisis.
“ — to claim with a straight face that the climate crisis is the fault of young people shopping online for goods they can afford in a cost-of-living crisis — You can’t be the head of a massive dirty gas company and point the finger at other people about the climate crisis,” Waters told Patricia Karvelas.
“We’ve seen this time and time again – when fossil fuel companies feel threatened, they try to shift the blame back onto the individual and distract us from the fact that they have the power to end the climate crisis.”
Woodside is currently waiting for Labor’s new Environment Minister, Murray Watt to make a decision on its North West Shelf gas project extension — a project in WA’s north west that could last until 2070 and which activists have claimed would pollute the ‘oldest outdoor art gallery on Earth’ and exacerbate the climate crisis.
Watt said he would deliver his verdict by the end of the month.
Australian Youth Climate Coalition is pushing against the gas extension, with protests being held throughout the week in major cities.
“We need to force Labor and Watt to reject Woodside, end new coal and gas, and implement the real ambition needed to tackle the climate crisis,” the organisation wrote on their socials.
Greens leader Larissa Waters described Woodside’s North West Shelf as “an absolutely catastrophic gas project” and “an untapped climate bomb.”
“This approval would mean supercharged floods, fires and species extinctions,” she said. “The Liberals said they’d approve the North West Shelf within thirty days. Labor is on track to do it even faster. I’m calling on the incoming Minister Murray Watt to stand up to the gas corporations and reject this dangerous climate wrecking project.”
In another video promoting a petition to stop the approval, Waters referenced analysis from the Australia Institute which found that the gas extension would emit more than every single coal fire power station in the country combined.
“People are already enduring devastating, supercharged climate disasters, and more gas means more pain for communities,” she said. “We can do this with clean renewals. That’s what we should be doing.”
Meanwhile, federal resources minister, Madeleine King said this week the government was working to expedite approvals for projects and enhance exploration for gas.
In a speech at the conference in Brisbane on Tuesday, O’Neill thanked Minister King for her “leadership” in heading the government’s Future Gas Strategy, identifying it as “a powerful and compelling case for the role of gas in supporting the quality of life in Australia, and in providing energy security in our region.”
“We thank the Minister for her leadership and vision in laying out this roadmap for Australia’s gas endowment,” she said. “The opportunity now is to take real actions that deliver the Government’s Future Gas Strategy. And Minister King, you have our industry’s support in working together with all stakeholders to achieve this for the long-term.”
Woodside’s own records showed that its “scope 3” emissions (the sale and burning of their gas) totalled 74.65m tonnes of CO2-equivalent (co2-e) last year.
In April, the company announced a $18 billion spending package on a new liquified natural gas (LNG) on a Louisiana LNG project — a decision which corporate climate advocacy group Market Forces said would contribute 1.6 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 40 years.
O’Neill’s latest comments are not the first time she’s been publicly criticised; in May 2023, a speech she delivered at the National Press Club where she defended the gas industry was slammed for being riddled with “misleading nonsense” and “playing people for fools”.
During her speech, O’Neill demanded more investment in the gas industry, saying: “If we don’t support investment in new gas supply and infrastructure in Australia, then we’re not only limiting the availability of gas as an energy supply, but potentially compromising the scale and pace of our renewable ambition.”
Head of advocacy and strategy for Greenpeace Australia Pacific Glenn Walker accused O’Neill of peddling “smoke and mirrors bullshit”, adding: “Woodside’s claims that increasing gas use and production are compatible with keeping dangerous global heating below 1.5 degrees are deeply misleading and false.”
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