The Adani conglomerate, under increasing pressure over its controversial coal mine in Australia, has clarified that it will not let protests come in the way of the completion of their project.
The group, controlled by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, responded to the increased scrutiny from various environmental activists over the Carmichael development, including teen activist Greta Thunberg.
Environmentalists have been targeting the mine and rail project ever since its proposal in 2010. However, it is now facing a fresh backlash as Australia suffers from the destructive bushfires and as Germany’s Siemens AG is being attacked for its contract to provide rail signalling systems.
Claiming that it will honour the commitment, the Munich-based company said that it will not let demonstrators in Germany dissuade it.
Warning over alarming climate changes has called for immediate action, especially for projects such as Adani Group’s Carmichael thermal coal project, aimed at boosting the global supply of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel.
With the construction of the Carmichael project well and truly underway, we have repeatedly demonstrated that we will not be intimidated or deterred from delivering on our promises,’ NDTV quoted the Adani group as saying in a statement.
The group said that those promises include to ‘people in developing nations who desperately need affordable energy to help lift them out of poverty.’
On January 11, Greta Thunberg urged her Twitter followers to help push Siemens to make the ‘only right decision.’
‘It seems that Siemens Deutschland have the power to stop, delay or at least interrupt the building of the huge Adani coal mine in Australia. On Monday they will announce their decision. Please help pushing them to make the only right decision,’ she tweeted.
‘While I do have a lot of empathy for environmental matters, I do need to balance different interests of different stakeholders,’ Siemens Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser said in a statement.
Pushing back against calls from some of its neighbours to combat climate change by giving up on coal mining, Australia said that these countries should respect the country’s reliance on the industry.
Coal is Australia’s second-biggest commodity export. Last May, it became a major issue during elections, exposing divisions that Adani’s Carmichael project caused.
Also Read: [Watch] ‘You Have Stolen My Dreams’: Greta Thunberg Rages At World Leaders At UN Climate Summit
