July 23, 2025: A senior executive of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group and an internationally recognized climate scientist have joined more than 160 shareholders and Market Forces in calling on Macquarie Group to clarify how its rapidly expanding finance for major new oil and gas projects aligns with the Paris Agreement’s climate targets.
At Macquarie’s annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday, July 23, investors are voicing growing discontent, with a climate‑focused shareholder resolution demanding greater transparency.
Following a landmark 35 % vote at the 2025 AGM urging improved climate risk disclosures, Macquarie has since withdrawn its pledge to achieve net‑zero emissions by 2050 and intensified its support for new fossil‑fuel developments.
Leading global investors—including the United States’ largest pension fund CalPERS (AU$909 bn), New York City Pensions (AU$470 bn), Norway’s KLP (AU$146 bn) and Storebrand (AU$237.5 bn)—have each endorsed the Market Forces shareholder resolution. The proposal asks Macquarie to demonstrate how its financing for fresh oil and gas projects is consistent with worldwide climate objectives.
Macquarie has emerged as Australia’s most aggressive financier of fossil fuels, tripling its oil and gas funding over the past three years. The bank is backing Australia’s largest proposed fracking venture in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin and contributing to a global LNG expansion that threatens to lock in catastrophic warming.
Conversely, Australia’s four major banks—Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac and ANZ—have reduced their lending to oil and gas extraction by nearly $8 billion during the same period.
Morgan Pickett, Banks Policy Analyst at Market Forces, said: “Shareholders are insisting that Macquarie explain the apparent contradiction between backing massive new fossil‑fuel projects that it admits could fuel dangerous warming and its public commitment to the Paris Agreement and a safe climate.”
“Investors are deeply concerned about Macquarie’s multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar investment in the Beetaloo Basin, one of the world’s largest proposed gas fracking sites. This project threatens to intensify climate impacts, including more severe bushfires, cyclones and floods,” he added.
Ian Dunlop, Executive Member of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group and former Shell senior executive, warned: “Macquarie is treating a 3 °C warming scenario as a business opportunity rather than the catastrophe it represents. Financing new fossil‑fuel projects will have unacceptable consequences for the company, the global economy and people worldwide for generations to come.”
Emeritus Professor John Church, a leading oceanographer and climate scientist with the IPCC, commented: “Macquarie’s actions run counter to the scientific evidence and directly conflict with the Paris Agreement’s requirements. Its statements appear to be greenwashing rather than reflecting genuine climate‑aligned practices.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have both concluded that new oil and gas developments are incompatible with the Paris Agreement’s climate goals, which aim to avert the increasingly severe economic and social impacts associated with higher global temperatures.
Despite the 35 % shareholder support for clearer climate action last year, Macquarie has substantially increased its backing for fossil‑fuel expansion, according to Mr. Pickett.
Shareholders, together with Market Forces and Australian Ethical, have filed resolutions demanding that Macquarie Group demonstrate how it will align its fossil‑fuel financing with global climate targets.