- Formal negotiations
- Finance
- Global review
- Global report
- Digital sequence information
- Harmful subsidies
- Marine biodiversity
- Planning, monitoring, reporting and review
- Article 8(j) implementation
- Biodiversity and climate change
- Links with other bodies
- Around the COP
- Armenian presidency
- Protests
- Lobbying and influence
- Carbon and biodiversity markets
Greenpeace Australia Pacific believes Woodside cannot be trusted when it comes to our oceans, reefs and marine life.
INTRODUCTION
Woodside’s Burrup Hub, Australia’s largest proposed fossil fuel project, presents a severe threat to our oceans, wildlife and climate. Woodside, known for its poor environmental and safety record, plans to extract gas from six fields off the coast of Western Australia. This mega-project involves constructing extensive undersea infrastructure and extending the life of existing gas plants until 2070, locking Australia into the use of toxic gas long after we should have transitioned to clean energy.
Aerial view of Scott Reef, next to which Woodside plans to drill up to 50 wells. The closest wells would be just over 2km from the reef itself. © Greenpeace / Alex Westover
ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
An oil spill from the Burrup Hub threatens 54 endangered species, including the critically endangered pygmy blue whale and green sea turtle. Gas flaring and lights disrupt turtle nesting, while subsidence threatens critical habitats. Shipping and drilling activities endanger whale migration pathways. A disaster at the project site could devastate marine ecosystems and coastlines as far as East Timor and Indonesia, causing long-term environmental damage.
Greenpeace has mapped Woodside’s Burrup Hub offshore infrastructure and its spill and accident scenarios using Geographic Information Software (GIS) data, based on Woodside’s own documents provided to state and federal regulators. © Greenpeace
CLIMATE IMPACTS
Emissions and methane leaks from the Burrup Hub’s operations will worsen Australia’s climate crisis. Greenpeace’s own analysis has revealed that Woodside’s Burrup Hub is Australia’s biggest climate threat, set to release 6.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over its proposed 50-year lifetime. Lifetime emissions from the Burrup Hub would be more than 13 times Australia’s annual emissions from all sources (and more than 73 times New Zealand’s annual emissions). This will not only impact Australia’s net zero commitments but also have far-reaching consequences globally.
Projected emissions from Woodside’s Burrup Hub Project. © Greenpeace
CONCERNING SAFETY RISKS
Woodside has a troubling history of environmental neglect, and has experienced at least six major incidents in the last decade, including an explosion, oil spill and whale calf collision. Additionally, it consistently fails to clean up its waste. Given this track record, why should we expect the Burrup Hub to be any different?
Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists climb and document a toxic, discarded oil tower owned by fossil fuel company Woodside, The Nganhurra Riser Turret Mooring. © Greenpeace
WOODSIDE’S TROUBLING RECORD
‘Explosion’ at Pluto LNG plant
In May 2023, an ‘explosion’ at the Pluto LNG plant caused the site to temporarily shut down during planned maintenance. Woodside had previously advised locals that it would be flaring gas and to expect ‘unusual dark smoke’ during the maintenance period. Unions accused Woodside of seeking to downplay the significance of the incident.
Woodside’s offshore rig leaks in the Cossack field
In 2016, one of Woodside’s oil rigs in the Cossack field, off the Dampier Peninsula, leaked 10,500 litres into the ocean. The source of the 175-litre-per-day leak was later found to be a degraded seal on a subsea hydraulic control line located on the rig. A spokesperson for Woodside claimed there was “no lasting impact to the environment”.
Woodside attempts to abandon decaying fossil fuel infrastructure in the ocean
When Woodside finished extracting oil from the Enfield field in 2018, it left behind the Nganhurra Riser Turret Mooring (RTM), an 83-metre-long, 2,452-tonne piece of infrastructure. The offshore regulator, NOPSEMA, chastised Woodside for failing to maintain the RTM.
In 2019, NOPSEMA ordered Woodside to remove the RTM. In 2021, Woodside proposed to sink the RTM, which reportedly contains toxic fire retardant foam, not far from biodiversity hotspots Ningaloo Reef and Exmouth Gulf. By 2022, the RTM had started taking on water and begun sinking. Woodside finally removed it in October 2023.
Woodside cuts maintenance budget despite multiple warnings
Woodside has been repeatedly warned by the offshore regulator, NOPSEMA, over its failure to properly maintain its aging offshore oil and gas rigs from corrosion. Nonetheless, in June 2021 Woodside announced that a 30% cut to operating costs will take place over three years. CEO Meg O’Neill was reported as saying, ‘a key focus area for us is maintenance which accounts for a significant portion of our production cost’.
The warnings continued. One week after Meg O’Neill’s announcement, NOPSEMA ordered Woodside to analyse the structural integrity of fourteen 24-tonne caissons located beneath its North Rankin A Platform. NOPSEMA warned that ‘loss of hydrocarbon (gas and condensate) from these pipelines may result in a major accident event.
Also in 2021, propane pipework at Woodside’s North West Shelf facility was found to have corroded to half the original wall thickness. In 2023, a NOPSEMA inspection of the North Rankin Complex concluded the ‘Flare Bridge and Flare Support Structure (including Guy Wires) to be defective in many places as a consequence of inadequate maintenance’.
Woodside contractor hits whale calf
In August 2023, a whale calf was hit by a tugboat operated by a Woodside contractor in the Port of Dampier. The collision, confirmed by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), was only made public when a local reporter made inquiries.
Woodside uses a legal loophole to dump the Northern Endeavour
In 2015, Woodside used a loophole to sell the aging Northern Endeavour oil vessel to “a small, inexperienced, financially weak one-person company”, Northern Oil and Gas Australia (NOGA). Woodside had left the Northern Endeavour corroding over time, in preparation for its decommissioning. But when presented with an opportunity to offload it, they used a complex web of legal maneuvers to transfer title to NOGA, using a loophole to escape the usual assessment of the capacity of a new entity to safely operate and decommission an oil rig. NOGA even ‘inherited’ Woodside ‘oil response plan’ for the Northern Endeavour, despite having never operated an offshore drill rig before, and not having the capacity for responding to an oil spill that Woodside relied upon when drafting the original plan. In response, NOPSEMA issued an escalating series of breach notices to NOGA, who were eventually forced to cease operations at the Northern Endeavour, and promptly went bankrupt, passing the liability for decommissioning to the Federal Government. This debacle led to a change in laws to establish trailing liability and decommissioning bonds. The Northern Endeavour incident shows the poor corporate behaviour of Woodside, and their willingness to use whatever legal means they have available to avoid responsibility for decommissioning, regardless of the environmental risk it creates.
Prepared by a coalition of nine Western Australian union, industry, conservation, and community organisations—including UnionsWA, the Conservation Council WA, and the Smart Energy Council—the WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan provides a practical roadmap to transform Western Australia into a clean energy powerhouse while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
Western Australia stands at a pivotal crossroads: lead the global clean energy economy or watch investment, future industries, and secure jobs go elsewhere. The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan outlines a transformative blueprint to harness the state’s world-class solar and wind resources. Discover how legislated renewable targets, green iron manufacturing, and a dedicated regional training strategy can generate tens of thousands of local jobs, lower household bills, and build a resilient, net-zero future for all Western Australians.
WA needs a clear and forward-thinking plan if it is going to become a competitive renewable energy powerhouse and maintain its economic strength through the energy transition.
“Western Australians know a faster renewable energy transition will lower their household expenses and prevent harmful climate pollution. But the community also needs clear direction to ensure this transition will create jobs, lower costs and not cause undue environmental harm.
“Here, sectors representing a broad range of interests have laid the groundwork for those outcomes, clearly outlining what is needed to create a future for WA that is good for the environment, for the climate, for workers and for the economy.
Summary
The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan sets out a strategic roadmap to position Western Australia as a global clean energy superpower while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
The report establishes three overarching goals:
- Creating local employment.
- Maintaining industrial competitiveness.
- Lowering household energy costs
To realize this vision, the framework details actionable measures to follow on from the recent WA Government announcement of a 75% Renewable Energy Target by 2031 for the South West Interconnected System. This includes developing a statewide Renewable Energy Target, coordinating statewide workforce and training pipelines, strategically planning regional infrastructure to safeguard high-value biodiversity and cultural heritage, and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing through household electrification incentives and First Nations equity partnerships. Ultimately, the plan highlights that establishing clear policy and regulatory certainty will unlock lower energy bills, boost power reliability, and secure the state’s global competitiveness in emerging green commodity export markets.
Key Findings
- Statewide Renewable Energy Target and Emissions Reduction Targets: The report calls for a statewide RET and 1.5°C aligned emission reduction targets to remove policy risk, lower capital costs, and attract clean energy investment.
- Transformative Job Creation: Accelerating the transition offers massive employment prospects, including up to 8,800 solar and battery jobs by 2050, as well as 24,000 ongoing and 11,000 construction jobs in a commercial green iron industry.
- Industrial Electrification & Competitiveness: Requiring large gas users to adopt binding electrification timetables and providing concessional financing will protect existing energy-intensive manufacturers from rising energy costs and impending domestic gas shortfalls.
- Green Commodity Export Leadership: Western Australia can build new export markets in green iron, green ammonia, and offshore oil/gas decommissioning by constructing shared common-user infrastructure and setting dedicated Green Commodity Export Targets.
- Coordinated Workforce & Training Pipeline: To address critical skill shortages the plan recommends establishing a WA Clean Energy Jobs Plan 2050, three regional training hubs, and dedicated pathways for female and under-represented apprentices.
- Environmental Safeguards & Community Benefits: Fast-tracked development must be paired with State Planning Policies that avoid high-biodiversity and cultural heritage lands, mandate new data centres to run on additional renewable power, and deliver household electrification rebates and First Nations equity partnerships.
What you can do
WA has an opportunity to lead on sustainable, clean energy and associated industries. You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
Countries have completed the first “global review” of their progress towards reversing nature loss by 2030 at the COP17 biodiversity talks in Yerevan, Armenia.
The review “notes with deep concern” that, unless action is “rapidly accelerated”, the goal to reverse nature loss and meet a set of 23 targets by 2030 “will not be achieved”.
It “urges” countries to accelerate action, including by “increased ambition in addressing the gaps”.
Much of the discussions in Yerevan focused on how to raise the necessary funds to help developing countries protect nature.
Some major economies pushed to expand the range of nations that are expected to provide finance, with countries agreeing at the end of the two weeks of talks that non-donors that want to contribute can “signal interest” before COP18.
This came after developed countries failed to meet a target to significantly ramp up nature finance over the last few years.
It also came as a landmark fund agreed at COP16 in Colombia to pay communities for the genetic resources derived from nature stands nearly empty two years on.
The Yerevan talks marked the halfway point of the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), the “Paris Agreement for nature” first made in