Two community organisations, Amnesty International Australia and the Centre for Non-Violence, have officially ended their relationship with healthcare and community sector super fund HESTA over its ongoing investments in fossil fuels.
Both organisations have removed HESTA from their enterprise bargaining agreements (EBA) as a default superannuation provider.
Many staff members at the Centre for Non-Violence have also commenced transferring their retirement savings out of HESTA and into fossil fuel-free super funds.
A third social change organisation, Jesuit Social Services, has decided to put HESTA on notice after the fund failed to deliver greater climate ambition.
Jesuit Social Services has been in dialogue with and advocating directly to HESTA to raise pressure on oil and gas companies Woodside and Santos to end their fossil fuel expansion plans.
All three organisations have engaged with HESTA in recent years, requesting greater climate ambition from the fund. The organisations say urgent action is needed now to end HESTA’s financial support for oil and gas companies directly undermining the vulnerable community members they serve.
According to HESTA’s disclosures, the fund had more than half a billion dollars invested in Australia’s two largest oil and gas companies, Woodside and Santos, at 31 December 2024.
A growing number of HESTA members are raising concerns about the fund’s ongoing failure to demand an end to Woodside and Santos’ oil and gas expansion plans. HESTA’s investments in companies expanding fossil fuels conflict with climate science and the fund’s own climate commitments.
HESTA must take a clear stance against new fossil fuel developments, which threaten our chance of securing a stable climate for people and our planet.
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Is HESTA the default super fund for your workplace? Get in touch with us today about HESTA’s investments in companies expanding fossil fuels and how your workplace can engage with HESTA about those investments.
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