Energy giant AGL has launched legal action against environmental advocacy organisation Greenpeace Australia Pacific, following the launch of a Greenpeace campaign alleging AGL is Australia’s biggest corporate climate polluter.
Late in the evening on 6 May 2021 AGL’s legal team, Ashurst Australia, served Greenpeace Australia Pacific with an application for an urgent interlocutory injunction, demanding that the charity remove any identifying AGL logos from its campaign.
Today the application was heard in the Federal Court of Australia. The judge denied AGL’s request to grant the injunction. The matter is expected to appear back in court next week.
Glenn Walker, senior campaigner for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said that his organisation was gearing up to meet AGL’s legal challenge.
“By throwing legal roadblocks in our path, AGL is trying to sink our campaign exposing the company as Australia’s biggest climate polluter. But we’re ready for a David and Goliath battle, and the truth is on our side,” he said.
“AGL likes to slap a wind turbine on their ads to hide their dirty coal pollution, and now they’re trying to slap a lawsuit on us to keep us quiet.”
“This is yet another attempt by the coal industry to stop grassroots organisations from exposing the damage that it is doing to the climate, to the environment and to human health.”
Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s General Counsel Katrina Bullock said, “AGL’s legal tactics show the lengths that the multi-billion dollar fossil fuel industry will go to stifle their critics.”
The Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaign, which launched nationally on 5 May, saw the release of a report, Coal-faced: exposing AGL as Australia’s biggest climate polluter covering AGL’s track record on carbon pollution, particulate air pollution and its breaches of environmental standards. The report was accompanied by a digital advertising campaign and a website, australiasgreatestliability.com
The Honourable Justice Burley has listed the matter for directions at 10am on Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
NOTES:
Images of the advertising creative and school strikers protesting at AGL’s Loy Yang A power station available here
For more information contact Fiona Ivits on 0487 003 872 or [email protected] or Nelli Stevenson on 0481 303 815 or [email protected]
