Pressuring Whitehaven Coal’s potential Joint Venture Partners
Nippon Steel & Itochu
Digital tactic guide
Context
Whitehaven Coal are currently seeking joint venture partners (JVPs) for their newly acquired Blackwater coal mine (majority metallurgical) in Queensland's Bowen Basin. They're currently reaching out to a range of steel producing companies that might see benefit in guaranteeing their supply of met coal in Australia by taking on a 20% stake in the mines. This would lessen the financial burden of the debt they’ve had to take on to acquire this mine and guarantee a home for the metallurgical coal.
Our aim in trying to prevent any steel companies from partnering with Whitehaven Coal and becoming a joint venture partner is to increase the financial burden of these new mines and the expensive debt they've also acquired in the process. By increasing the costs for Whitehaven Coal, they are less likely to have the cash they need to begin or continue their expansion or Greenfield projects like Winchester South and Maules Creek.
From reports in the Australian Financial Review and the Australian, we believe that there are now two companies most at risk of partnering with Whitehaven Coal- Nippon Steel and Itochu. Both are Japanese companies- Nippon Steel is a steel company (!) and Itochu is a commodities trading company.
Opportunity
We believe that Whitehaven Coal were seeking bids for Joint Venture Partners by mid March. We believe that both Nippon Steel and Itochu have submitted bids. This means that we have a small window of opportunity to publicly warn these steel companies not to partner with Whitehaven Coal and give them a taste of the public pressure they would receive if they did enter into a partnership.
The tactics
NIPPON STEEL
What | Source/link | Tactic |
Contact form on website | Fill out contact forms on their website letting them know about Whitehaven Coal’s poor financial and environmental record | |
Twitter/ X | Posts tagging Nippon on twitter letting them know about Whitehaven Coal’s poor financial and environmental record |
ITOCHU
Comments on posts letting them know about Whitehaven Coal’s poor financial and environmental record | ||
Posts tagging Itochu on twitter letting them know about Whitehaven Coal’s poor financial and environmental record |
How to do it?
- Contact form: Follow this link (and above) and use the details below to fill in the form
- Twitter: You’ll need a twitter/X account. Simply login to your account, go to your home page and the post element at the top. Write your message and tag @nipponsteel and in a separate post tag @ITOCHUIntl, press ‘post’.
- Facebook: You’ll need a facebook account. Simply login to your account and search Itochu International. Their North American account is here. Their Japanese account is here. You can post comments on both accounts. Simply find recent posts on both accounts and comment on these posts with your message. If you’d like to use google translate to translate your message and send in Japanese, you can do so here.
Key messages/ suggested messages
You can get creative and come up with your own messages, but in case you don’t have time, here are some suggestions.
You can use the hashtags: #RiskyBusiness #NotAnotherDollar
Contact form (Nippon) | Name: Compulsory field. You can choose to use your own name here, or not, but ideally you feel comfortable sharing your name Affiliation: Not a compulsory field but you can say ‘Move Beyond Coal’ Address: Compulsory field. You can choose to share or make up an address. Telephone: Compulsory field. You can choose to share or make up a phone number Email address: Compulsory field. You can choose to share your own or put info@movebeyondcoal.com Content: [Max 2,000 characters] Purchasing a stake in a Whitehaven mine would present serious risks to Nippon Steel for the following reasons: Whitehaven Coal is the biggest undiversified coal mining company listed on the Australian share market and one of the most controversial resources companies in the country. The company has massive coal expansion plans with three thermal coal projects in development (Narrabri Stage 3, Vickery, and Maules Creek Extension), in addition to two of the largest greenfield metallurgical and thermal coal mine proposals in Australia (Winchester South and Blackwater South). Whitehaven’s plans to spend over AU$4.5 billion on new coal projects by the end of the decade are completely at odds with global climate goals. Whitehaven’s coal expansion plans are inconsistent with legislated emissions targets in Australia, where it operates all of its mines, as well as those in its primary customer countries: Japan, Korea and Taiwan. To justify these plans, Whitehaven refers to coal demand scenarios that would push global temperatures well above 2.4ºC of global warming. As a company that has taken on significant debt to pursue long-term thermal and metallurgical coal expansion plans that are incompatible with the world’s commitments to decarbonise, Whitehaven is a risky partner to go into business with. Whitehaven has a well-documented track record of environmental destruction and law-breaking. The company has been found guilty of, or investigated for, breaches of the law on at least 35 occasions. These environmental breaches have threatened local livelihoods and critical habitat for endangered species, including the koala, which has now been listed as endangered and is at risk of extinction due to habitat loss. Entering into part ownership of this huge mine with a company that has such a poor environmental record could present reputational and material risks to Nippon Steel in the future. Press continue Press send |
Twitter (Nippon/Itochu) | @Nipponsteel Whitehaven Coal is a risky business partner. If Nippon Steel is serious about its goals to be carbon neutral by 2050, then it must develop plans to phase out coal-based steel production and commit to not buying into a mine operated by a notorious coal company. OR @Nipponsteel Whitehaven Coal is a risky partner to go into business with. Any steel company willing to become partial owner of a coal mine in 2024 would be reinforcing its reputation as a climate laggard. Don't partner with Whitehaven Coal on any mines, starting with Blackwater. @ITOCHUIntl Purchasing a stake in a Whitehaven mine would present serious risks to Itochu Corporation. Whitehaven’s plans to spend over AU$4.5 billion on new coal projects by the end of the decade are completely at odds with global climate goals and Itochu's climate commitments. @ITOCHUIntl Whitehaven Coal has taken on significant debt to pursue long-term thermal and metallurgical coal expansion plans that are incompatible with the world’s commitments to decarbonise. Whitehaven is a risky partner to go into business with. Commit to no new coal investment |
Facebook (Itochu) | Whitehaven Coal has taken on significant debt to pursue long-term thermal and metallurgical coal expansion plans that are incompatible with the world’s commitments to decarbonise. Whitehaven is a risky partner to go into business with. Commit to no new coal investment #riskybusiness OR Purchasing a stake in a Whitehaven mine would present serious risks to Itochu Corporation. Whitehaven’s plans to spend over AU$4.5 billion on new coal projects by the end of the decade are completely at odds with global climate goals and Itochu's climate commitments #riskybusiness |
Questions?
Let us know how you go at Millie@tippingpoint.org.au and fahimah@tippingpoint.org.au or for any questions, please get in touch.