Our campaigns

CCBR focussed on the Senate for this election. With six places to be filled for NSW, there was a multitude of parties, some familiar, some unknown or confusingly named. We sorted through them, and picked out the ones with best climate policies. Then we distributed the resultant "Vote Climate in the Senate" flyer at commuter stops, shopping centres and street corners both in our local Grayndler electorate, and neighbouring Reid.

In 2021, ACF and partners launched Together We Can to demonstrate the huge public demand for real action on climate this decade.

They brought together everyday people, communities and businesses all over the country calling for climate and nature solutions to cut pollution by more than half this decade. Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle used this as a framework for both group and individual actions. Through extensive media coverage, a massive TV and digital advertising campaign, solutions-focused community events and tens of thousands of people making their calls for action visible, we made climate a key issue in the election.

Here’s what they achieved in the run up to the 2022 federal election…

The #StopAdani campaign has been going on for over 10 years, with local victories like saving Australian taxpayers from lending $1 billion for a railway, forcing the mine to size down to a third of its original scope, and repeatedly delaying the export of any coal.

But its biggest impact has probably been on the the international coal industry and its financing. The Adani Carmichael mine has had to change its name (to Bravus), and the Abbott Point Coal terminal has had to become NQXT, as it tries to refinance its heavy debt.

The wonderful team at Market Forces explain the impact of NQXT to potential investors.

The Match Boris and Biden campaign was to focus awareness on how inadequate our government has been so far in setting Australia's emissions reduction targets, and how we need more than a net-zero-by-2050 commitment.

CCBR held a successful on-line Day of Action event, putting out public calls via social media for Morrison to match the targets set by Boris Johnson and Joe Biden.

The #StopAdani movement identified 5 investment banks that have fingers in Adani's complex financial web: Blackrock, State Bank of India, MUFG, HSBC and JP Morgan. CCBR supporters focussed on JP Morgan, asking executives that they demand Adani stop all work on the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project; and if Adani refuses to stop work, to publicly commit to cease further investments and withdraw existing investments from Adani.

Through July and August 2021, a number of CCBR supporters met via Zoom every Wednesday morning, and together sent over 1100 text messages, emails and phone calls to executives of the company.

CCBR asked 132 respondents asking what they knew about – and what they wanted from – their banks and super funds when it came to investments in fossil fuels. An overwhelming majority were concerned about their bank's involvement, though many had already switched to environmentally conscious banks.

Subsequently we held three market stalls (at Rozelle, Glebe and Summer Hill) providing letters for visitors to send to their bank, telling it that if it continues to choose fossil fuels, they will choose another bank. At least 200 letters were sent to each of the four big banks.

The NSW Government recommended approval of an 850-well coal seam gas field in the Pilliga forest wilderness and farmland near Narrabri - the largest temperate forest we have left in the state. Turning it into an industrial gas field will poison groundwater, carve up the forest with roads and pipelines, endanger koalas and other threatened species, and increase the risk of wildfires.

Hundreds of submissions to the Independent Planning Commission failed to prevent the expansion of Coal Seam Gas mining in Pilliga area by mining giant Santos.

Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle has long been a supporter of solar PV on public and private buildings in the Inner West. We are excited that three community groups now have initiatives so everyone can have a share in a renewable future. Haystacks is a 3-hectare community-owned solar garden (1MW) on a farm in the NSW Riverina. What we like? It benefits the local community, and your share is transferable (within NSW) so you could pass on the future credits to, say, a family member if your circumstances change.

On September 25 2020, school students across Australia called on politicians to Fund Our Future not Gas. CCBR supporters helped to amplify the message - socially distanced of course!

What we did

• Joined a nearby School Strike 4 Climate action on Sept 25

• Emailed or phoned our MP to say gas is a fossil fuel too!

Adani plans to ship coal from its proposed Carmichael coal project in Queensland to Godda in eastern India where they are constructing a new coal-fired power station to burn Australian coal to generate dirty, overpriced power for Bangladesh. Adani’s proposed coal plant at Godda will displace thousands of Indigenous adivasi (Aboriginal) people, and be highly polluting for the local community and global climate.

The Senate is inquiring into the Australian Government’s response to coronavirus and we’re asking them to dig into the activities and gas industry links of the unelected National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC). It is vitally important that the NCCC's gas industry connections do not hijack the opportunity for a renewable energy-led recovery.

We asked Senators to look into this unelected business Commission to make sure the coronavirus recovery is led by the fast growing strength of renewable energy and not the unsustainable gas industry

Australia is on the frontline of the climate crisis, and our government urgently needs to take action to protect our communities by moving away from coal, oil and gas, to 100% renewable energy.

The Minerals Council, an institution of fossil fuel lobbyists, have been blocking policy and influencing Australian politics for decades, undermining any chance at the safe climate future we deserve. We need your help in weakening this group, to limit their ability to undermine action on climate change.

Our supporters asked Rio Tinto at its AGM on May 7 to leave the MCA

Adani are having trouble finding a company to insure their disastrous Carmichael mine. Now they are trying to recruit one through the Lloyds of London insurance marketplace.

Can you add your voice now and call on Lloyds to rule out insurance of the Adani mine and all other new coal projects? Goal of 10,000 signatures is almost met!

We asked Lloyds of London to play no role in finding insurance for Adani.

Underground coal mining has already killed many rare wetlands on the Newnes Plateau in the western Blue Mountains. Now Centennial Coal wants to reopen an old mine and dig further under the swamps and streams that feed them.

Submissions to NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment on the Centennial coalmine closed 5pm, Tuesday 28 April.

Inner West Council (together with a group of other councils) is a customer of Origin Energy. We want these councils to tell Origin their customers have a dim view of fracking in the Northern Territory. We developed a Fact Sheet containing the key information and a sample letter to Council.

Update: our community petitioned Inner West Council and got an outcome! Inner West Council and three others have requested "that Origin Energy cease all plans to conduct fracking in the NT and elsewhere due to its impact ... and commit to further investment in environmentally and socially sustainable renewable energy projects". Still a long way to go on this campaign, but for the moment this project may be on the back foot.