Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) CEO Brendan Pearson is out of a job following BHP’s split with the organization on climate and energy policy last week. Pearson announced his resignation on Thursday.
Over nearly a decade with the group, including three and a half years as CEO, Pearson actively campaigned against the Resource Super Profits Tax and the carbon tax, and helped establish MCA as one of the country’s most powerful industry associations.
His advocacy for new coal-fired power plants without carbon capture and opposition to the Finkel Review’s Clean Energy Target ran counter to BHP’s policy views, however. The fissure between the two organizations was highlighted when the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility submitted a resolution to BHP calling for the company to pull out of groups whose policy views conflict with BHP’s own. While BHP has urged shareholders to vote down the resolution and is unlikely to leave MCA, it said it will review all of its memberships by December.
BHP’s Australian operations head Mike Henry reiterated the firm’s call for a Clean Energy Target at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne on Tuesday, in stark contrast with MCA’s position on the issue.
Read the full article in The Weekend Australian.