ESG & Investing

Billionaire Push Sees Top Australia Emitter Hasten Coal Exit

AGL brings forward closure of power plant by a decade
Billionaire activist became company’s top shareholder in May

Mike Cannon-Brookes
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

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By Sybilla Gross

September 28, 2022 at 10:56 PM UTC

Updated on

September 29, 2022 at 3:34 AM UTC

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Australia’s top polluter bowed to pressure from its biggest shareholder, billionaire climate activist Mike Cannon-Brookes, and announced it would exit coal power by 2035, a decade earlier than previously planned.

AGL Energy Ltd. will shutter the nation’s dirtiest power plant, Loy Yang A in Victoria, by 2035, the Sydney-based company said Thursday. Its Bayswater site in New South Wales -- the second-most polluting facility -- is on track to close between 2030 and 2033, AGL Chair Patricia McKenzie said in the statement.