Billionaire Climate Activist Wrests Control of Energy Giant to Speed up Net-Zero Transition

Mike Cannon-Brookes, chief executive officer of Atlassian, attends the annual Allen and Company Sun Valley Conference, in Sun Valley, Idaho, USA, on July 11, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Tech billionaire and climate change advocate Mike Cannon-Brookes has won shareholder approval to overhaul the board of Australian energy giant AGL Energy, in a move likely to see the accelerated shutdown of coal-fired power generators in favour of renewable energy.

On Nov. 15, AGL’s annual general meeting approved the onboarding of four new directors, Mark Twidell, former Tesla Energy director; Kerry Schott, former chair of the Energy Security Board; Christine Holman, director at Metcash; and Prof. John Pollaers.

The four were supported by Cannon-Brookes’ private company, Grok Ventures, which holds 11.3 percent of AGL’s shares, making him the largest shareholder.

While the current board rejected three of the four directors, citing a lack of experience in the field, Cannon-Brookes was able to get his way by garnering support from other shareholders as well as proxy advisors.

The Yallourn coal-fired power station, owned by AGL Energy, in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia, on April 28, 2022. (Caden Pearson, The Epoch Times)

Grok Ventures said the move would usher in “fresh thinking and more execution capacity.”

“The AGL Board has Grok Ventures’ full support to deliver on the monumental task ahead of rebuilding the company to lead Australia’s green energy transition for the benefit of all stakeholders,” the company said in a statement obtained by AAP.

Cannon-Brookes has targeted AGL for months now as part of his campaign to further Australia’s energy transition. He previously attempted a direct buyout of the company along with Canadian “alternative” asset manager Brookfield, which was later withdrawn.

Energy Transition Underway

AGL currently has a blueprint to shut down its final coal-fired power plant by 2035 and to build five gigawatts of renewable energy generation by 2030, as well as 12 gigawatts of firming capacity (battery storage) by 2036.

All this is slated to cost $20 billion (US$13.41 billion), according to AGL Chair Patricia McKenzie. The plan will be put to a shareholder vote every three years.

The move comes just as fellow “Big Three” energy retailer Origin Energy fields an $18.4 billion (US$11.82 billion) takeover bid from Brookfield.

It continues an ongoing campaign from climate activists to pressure Australian governments and companies to embrace the transition to net-zero despite several concerns from engineers, lawyers, scientists, and business leaders about its feasibility.

One concern is whether an electricity grid backed largely by intermittent energy sources—meaning they are dependent on weather—can support the needs of Australian households and businesses.

In fact, the CEO of major snack food supplier, SnackBrands, said his company estimates they would need 250 acres of solar panels to replace their current gas usage while providing just six hours of power a day—less if it’s a cloudy day.

While other experts say, the state of the environment has been misrepresented by climate change activists to give the public the impression the situation is worse than it actually is.

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