Environmental Justice Australia just released a shocking report that unveils the dark underbelly of Adani Group’s business dealings – The Adani Brief: What governments and financiers need to know about the Adani Group’s record overseas.
Background
- The brief is the result of months of international investigation by Environmental Justice Australia and USA-based environmental law non-profit EarthJustice into the global legal compliance record of the Adani Group.
- It puts governments and private stakeholders on notice that backing Adani's Carmichael coal mine and rail project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin may expose them to financial and reputational risks.
Key findings
Environmental destruction: Adani Group companies have a record of environmental destruction and non-compliance with environmental regulations. Some examples are:
- 60,000 tonnes of Adani's coal spilled into the ocean and they didn't clean it up for five years.
- An Adani Group company was found to have deprived local fishing families at Hajira Port, Surat of access to their fishing grounds. The company was fined A$4.8 million.
- At Adani’s Port in Mundra government investigations have found large-scale destruction of mangroves and non-compliance with environmental conditions to guard groundwater from salinity and pollution.
‘Black money’: five Adani Group companies are being investigated by the Indian Ministry of Finance for trade-based money laundering. The companies are alleged to have siphoned large amounts of money offshore and artificially inflated electricity prices for Indian consumers.
Bribery and illegal exports: an Adani Group company stands accused of bribing customs officials, the police, local politicians and others in return for favours for illegal exporting.
Confusing and opaque corporate structures: 13 of the 26 Adani subsidiaries in Australia are ultimately owned by a Cayman Islands based company. The ownership of Adani’s Abbot Point coal port in Australia is unclear with documents in Australia and India suggesting different owners.
This is a company the government is entrusting:
- To extract billions of litres of water from underground aquifers and surface water systems in central Queensland's dry environment.
- To dredge an estimated 1 million cubic metres of spoil for the expansion of Abbot Point coal terminal near the Great Barrier Reef to facilitate shipping millions of tonnes of coal through reef waters.
- To protect the unique Doongmabulla Springs and critically endangered Southern Black-Throated Finch in the Galilee Basin from devastating mining impacts like habitat destruction and water loss.
- With a $1 billion of public money if funds from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund are approved for the project.
You can read EJA’s full Adani brief or their short overview now.
