AustralianSuper accused of greenwashing by investing funds from ethical option in coal, oil and gas industries

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia's largest super fund has invested money from its 'Socially Aware' option in the coal, oil and gas industries, despite excluding investments in shares and corporate bonds of companies with fossil fuel reserves.

Transcript

00:00Paul Bourne signed up to Australian Super's socially aware option because it promised

00:07not to invest his money in fossil fuel companies.

00:10But when he learned the fund had been lending to coal, oil and gas companies, he says he

00:16was horrified.

00:17I was quite shocked.

00:18It looks like it's greenwashing.

00:21The fund's policies make clear it doesn't invest in shares of companies that directly

00:25own thermal coal, oil or gas reserves.

00:29But it does allow other types of investments in the sector, such as direct loans to companies.

00:35This fund is trying to appeal to people, to investors that want to do the right thing

00:41by the planet.

00:42That's why they have this fund.

00:44And when I looked at what was involved there, I thought this is not good.

00:48Australian Super has been lending members' money to fossil fuel companies, including

00:53Indonesian coal miner Adaro, Canadian oil and gas company Batex and US-based Magnolia

01:00Oil and Gas.

01:01Paul Bourne complained to the regulator when he spotted some of the investments in the

01:05fund's financial disclosures two years ago.

01:08ASIC told him it would investigate, but he heard nothing until last week when the ABC

01:14asked the regulator what happened to the case.

01:17ASIC got in touch with me to advise that they had found that legally Australian Super

01:24had not broken any law.

01:26We should have got back to him earlier, we've apologised for that, but we really rely on

01:30people like Mr Bourne and others to refer these matters to us.

01:36ASIC says it raised concerns with Australian Super about the wording of its policies, but

01:41didn't find evidence to prove in court it was greenwashing.

01:45We think these statements on the Australian Super website go pretty close to crossing

01:51a line for investors.

01:53Australian Super wouldn't comment on camera, but in a statement says its holdings and policies

01:59are clearly communicated to members.

02:02Paul Bourne's not planning to switch to another fund just yet, but he hopes his message to

02:08Australian Super will push it to change.

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