Heads of fossil fuel companies deserve to have their “heads on spikes” green hydrogen supremo, and head of Fortescue, Andrew Forrest has said.
Forrest said hydrocarbon executives at COP28 talking up production “must think you have blood on your hands”. The Fortescue head was talking on Perth’s 6PR station.
Forrest said Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill was “trained by the biggest liar we’ve seen on climate change in the last 40 years, that’s ExxonMobil. She’s been parachuted in her, bringing in all ExxonMobil’s ways, and I’m simply saying can we look at the fact that Meg is driving an agenda to get carbon bombs going as quickly as possible.”
O’Neill has been “peddling poison”, Forrest said. “Stop producing energy which is poison and start producing energy that can do no harm. You can do it.”
A Woodside representative told WA Today that Forrest’s comments had set “a terrible example for public debate and should be condemned”.
Forrest also questioned the amount of tax paid by oil and gas companies. “Look at how much tax you’ve paid, bugger all mate.”
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) was another area that Forrest came out against. The process of capturing CO2 has been “failing dismally for 50 years”, he said. “It just continues to fail and fail and fail.”
While Forrest was critical of Woodside’s head, he took a more lenient stance on Adnoc head Sultan Al Jaber’s comments on climate change. Al Jaber “probably regrets not thinking that remark through”, Forrest said. “I was disappointed when I heard that, I thought that’s not the bloke I know.”
No port in a storm
The dual-fuelled Fortescue Green Pioneer arrived in Dubai, for COP28, on December 5. Most ports have not approved green ammonia as a fuel, so the ship was unable to use this.
Fortescue said Singapore is “ammonia capable”. When the Green Pioneer returns it will complete commissioning and become able to use ammonia as a fuel.
“Now it is up to the world’s ports to insist that their logistics do not harbour those who seek to hide from their responsibility to turn away from pollution,” Forrest said.
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