ANZ confirmed as Australia’s biggest fossil fuel lender

Melbourne, 18 June 2015: A new report from Market Forces shines a light for the first time on Australian banks’ financing of the fossil fuel industry and the disparity between lending to ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ energy.

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition today voiced its disappointment over the lack of any significant new provisions in Part II of the Polar Code that  would adequately protect the Antarctic environment from shipping.  The London-based UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) today adopted Part II of the Polar Code concerning pollution prevention.

This year Friends of the Earth Australia is turning 40! (Well, actually we're 41 but were too busy last year to organise a party).

Please join us to celebrate four decades of creative resistance and activism working towards environmental and social justice.

There will be music, performance, and a chance to hear from some of your fave FoE friends and campaigners.

Please come along to the special screening of Farmland not Gaslands on Thursday April 30 at The Joinery, 111 Franklin Street, Adelaide. 

This 30 minute film is about communities facing unconventional gas mining and their community battle to protect their farmland, water source and natural environment.

With special guest speakers:

Three major French banks have announced they will not fund the mega coal mines proposed in the Galilee Basin, or associated infrastructure such as the new coal export terminals at Abbot Point.

BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, and Credit Agricole have issued statements that bring to eleven the number of international banks that have spoken out against the prospect of funding mega-coal mines in the Galilee Basin or new export terminals in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Forest campaigners at the Brazilian Consulate in Melbourne today to call on Brazil to reject a proposal from FuturaGene, a biotechnology firm wholly owned by Brazilian pulp and paper company Suzano, that would see a massive commercial release of genetically engineered trees.

The federal government continues to try and destroy the renewable Energy Target. So far the ALP has refused to do a deal to reduce the current RET, and the Greens firmly oppose any deal.

It’s vital that the community remind the PM that there is overwhelming support for renewable energy, and that most people want more, not less renewables. Recent polling on the RET shows that more than 88% of Australians would like to see the Renewable Energy Target either increase or remain at the current level of 41,000 GWh.

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a secret trade agreement that will adversely affect the environment, worker’s rights, cost of medicines, internet freedoms, food safety, intellectual property rights and indigenous rights.

Friends of the Earth media release February 20, 2015

Chinese imported frozen berries linked to a number of cases of hepatitis A in Victoria and NSW has led to a national call for stronger food safety regulation and country of origin labelling.