Courtesy of The West Australian
17.10.2025
Tensions are boiling between resources powerhouses Woodside and Fortescue in Western Australia’s latest climate clash.
The Australian National University kicked the hornet’s nest this week with a study claiming 118 Europeans would die by 2100 thanks to emissions from Woodside’s $19 billion Scarborough LNG project.
That’s a net figure, by the way — 484 more deaths because of heat and about 360 fewer due to extreme cold.
Apparently only The Bull picked up this fine print. We’re not allergic to a good maths equation.
Who dished out the dough to support this science experiment? On Friday, Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation confirmed their giant balance sheet had offered a little spare change for the study.
The cash splash raised a few eyebrows on the Terrace.
There’s no disputing Twiggy has gone balls deep in the fight against climate change.
It’s an admirable vision, even if the lads have not yet perfected the proton exchange membrane.
But steady on, darl!
A bit of foraging by The Bull has uncovered Fortescue’s scope 3 carbon emissions — mostly pollution from customers chucking iron ore into blast furnaces with some coking coal and a lit match — are 275 million tonnes annually.
Just two decades at that pace would pump out about seven times as much greenhouse gas as Scarborough’s lifetime.
A back of the beercoaster spreadsheet suggests Fortescue will therefore be responsible for about 770 extra European deaths.
Twiggy backers would point out Fortescue HQ has no control over how customers at a Chinese mill use their iron ore.
True. But what the ferric else would they expect a steel-maker to do with it? Dump it in the South China Sea to infill a few more islands?
Woodside can equally shrug their shoulders. If China, Japan and South Korea are all targeting net zero, then who is Meg O’Neill to give them a detailed map to get there?
A Fortescue spokesman points out the company has been driving change in steelmaking and will invest $10 billion slashing emissions at its own mines.
“Fortescue isn’t shying away from that responsibility. We’re fixing it. We encourage Woodside to do the same.”
Worthy effort. Let’s just not throw steel ingots in glasshouses.