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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
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Tristan Edis

After Mike Cannon-Brookes’ shake-up, AGL now faces the challenge of pivoting away from power stations

Mike Cannon-Brookes, wearing a grey hoodie and a black cap, speaks into a microphone and gestures with one hand
‘While Mike Cannon-Brookes has succeeded in getting his board nominees elected, significant challenges remain for a further acceleration in coal closure.’ Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Mike Cannon-Brookes and his collaborators have succeeded in sending shock waves throughout the boardrooms of major companies around Australia. His campaign, via shareholder activism, has resulted in a mass clean-out of the board of directors of Australia’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, AGL Energy. Perhaps more importantly it has resulted in AGL management substantially accelerating their exit out of coal.

AGL’s decision to close Loy Yang A power station by 2035 probably helped precipitate the decision of the Victorian Labor party (facing an election on 26 November) to commit to seeing all coal power closed by 2035, and an expansion of renewable energy to 90% of the state’s power supply.

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