Telling NAB to stop funding coal

Over the last six months many Uniting Church members have taken part in actions by the Move Beyond Coal campaign. Move Beyond Coal is a grassroots movement that aims to put a brake on new coal mines or mine expansions. It does this by putting public pressure on the banks funding those expansions, starting with NAB and Whitehaven Coal.

Can you help us ramp up pressure on NAB’s funding of the coal industry in the next few weeks, by taking one of the simple actions below?

Last week Market Forces released a damning report on big banks’ funding of fossil fuels. The report showed NAB has lent $4.5 billion to fossil fuel companies in the last two years and $3.3 billion to the coal industry since the Paris agreement was signed (with its goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees).

NAB is at the point of deciding whether to fund Whitehaven Coal’s expansion plans, including in Narrabri in northern NSW. Whitehaven is the biggest coal only company in Australia.

NAB paints itself as a climate leader and claims to be committed to the Paris Agreement. But its continued funding of coal undermines that claim. The Market Forces report shines a clear light on the gap between their words and actions. Read Uniting Church and Move Beyond Coal member, Rev Dr Chris Walker’s blog about the issue, here.

More pressure now could tip the balance on NAB’s decision on Whitehaven Coal.

To provide more information on the action and share resources to help you, we are holding a briefing session on Monday 19 June from 7.00pm-8.00pm, via Zoom. Registation is available here

For more information, call Jon on 0477 725 528 or Deepthi on 044977838.

The Uniting Advocacy Team