Australia green group drops court challenge to Woodside gas project

A major environmental group in Australia said it was dropping a court challenge to stop Woodside Energy's $12.5bn Scarborough gas project in Western Australia.

In June 2022, the Australian Conservation Foundation requested that the Federal Court halt Woodside's Scarborough gas project operations until an assessment of its potential impact on the Great Barrier Reef could be conducted.

However, the ACF on Monday said it would not proceed with the case as it became apparent that it was "unlikely to succeed."

"The reality is that Australia’s laws work in favour of fossil fuel interests. There is still no explicit requirement for climate damage to be considered under our key national nature law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act," it said in a statement.

Woodside said the parties had agreed to seek an order from the Federal Court to dismiss the proceedings against the company.

The ACF had argued that the Scarborough project should be evaluated as it would have a significant impact on the Great Barrier Reef, and the exported gas burned in other countries will worsen global warming.

Woodside boss Meg O’Neill said the Scarborough reservoir contained less than 0.1% carbon dioxide and combined with processing design efficiencies "will be one of the lowest carbon intensity sources of LNG delivered into north Asian markets".

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com