Protestors #floodpolluters – AGL Energy occupied in Melbourne @Takvera reports

October 9, 2014

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Over 60 people occupied the AGL Energy head office in Melbourne this morning siting down on the 23rd floor offices of this energy producer and retailer. Several people locked themselves together on the 23rd floor. A number of climate guardian angels locked on to the front doors at street level. Why were they there?

AGL Energy, once regarded as a relatively green and environmentally friendly electricity producer, has in recent years bought and accumulated assets in black and brown coal generation and coal seam gas exploration. It is now a major source and polluter of carbon emissions.

Along with it’s transformation into a major carbon polluting company, it has also argued strongly for changes to the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme arguing the Large Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) should be abolished and existing arrangements grandfathered, and also the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Target (SRET) which residential households and small businesses use to install solar panels, should also be abolished.

  • AGL Energy is developing CSG at Gloucester against the wishes of the local community (Newcastle Herald Story)
  • AGL wants the RET scheme to be slashed (Business Spectator Story)
  • AGL Energy has recently bought dirty and polluting brown and black coal generating stations like the Loy Yang A Power station in the La Trobe Valley(Herald Sun Story) in 2013, and the Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley (RenewEconomy story) in 2014.

Here is a description by Giles Parkinson from Reneweconomy on AGL Energy from June 2014:

“Once the greenest of Australia’s biggest retailers, AGL Energy has changed its priorities since taking advantage of knock down prices to buy the Loy yang A brown coal generator in Victoria (Australia’s largest emitter), and seeking to buy the 4.6GW Macquarie black coal generators in NSW.

“AGL now says that the large scale target of 41,000GWh will be impossible to meet – a claim rejected by renewable developers and big international equipment providers such as GE and Vestas – although it does not say by how much the target should be diluted. “AGL Energy, however, does call for the removal of the rooftop solar component of the RET.

“Household solar PV now no longer requires subsidies to be an attractive proposition for households.”

How the protest unfolded on twitter:

More videos of why the protest occurred

Climate Guardian: “If the government won’t listen to scientists, then maybe they’ll listen to angels. What we are saying to them is, it isn’t your place to put our children’s future in jeopardy.”

Media reports from Greenleft Weekly, the Herald Sun and RenewEconomy

Feature images by 350.org Australia (Facebook page)

Filed Under: #auspol, #ClimateAction, #ClimateElection, #Columns, #CurrentFibs, Activism, Citizen Journalists, Civil Disobedience, Climate Change, CSG, Environment, Front Page, Issues, John Englart Tagged With: , , ,

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Comments

  1. Ian Carter says
    October 10, 2014 at 9:45 am

    Here in Canberra we don’t have alternative suppliers, so till I can afford Solar for electricity and hot water, I am stuck with ACTEWAGL for gas, water and electricity. The charges for gas have become exorbitant and we consider AGL a dirty, greedy corporation with no respect for customers, the environment or the future; they only care about profits. Stuff them!

    • Hans von Chrismar says
      October 10, 2014 at 11:07 am

      Why don’t you talk to Captain Green in Sydney
      They will install in Canberra
      We just struck a great deal for a solar system they will install in Port Macquarie

  2. Hans von Chrismar says
    October 10, 2014 at 11:12 am

    I think it is time to establish a new political party called “Real Green”, which concentrates solely on safeguarding a future for our children and grand children. I think the support would be enormous!

  3. Eva says
    October 10, 2014 at 3:46 pm

    So how sincere were AGL about being green in the first place – given that the moment they could ‘bail’ on being green, they did – with brown coal no less?

    They apparently don’t need to count the money they no longer have to spend building new power stations – so they can cry poor now that the nasty green energy people have cut domestic energy consumption. Apparently, none of the energy companies saw that coming or made plans accordingly. Methinks there is something seriously lacking in their planning skills.