A number of false and misleading claims have been made about Friends of the Earth in The Australian newspaper today (April 1, 2026).
In a long piece focusing on funding for environmental organisations, a number of false claims were made about us and our work.
We categorically reject claims made in that article that FoE Australia has colluded with Danish investors Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to support the controversial Chalumbin wind farm and we are demanding a correction of the record from the Australian. However the newspaper has refused to retract the claims or apologise for the false claims in their story.
Friends of the Earth publicly opposed the Chalumbin wind farm, as detailed in this blog piece calling for a moratorium on large scale renewables projects in the Wet Tropics until an effective planning process was in place due to the unacceptable levels of native vegetation removal involved in that and similar projects.
Friends of the Earth offered to organise a meeting with one of the potential investors - Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to enable Steven Nowakowski (then of the group Rainforests Reserves Australia) to make the case against investing in the project due to its unacceptable environmental impact, as confirmed by email correspondence we have on record.
Specific false claims made in the article:
- 'Investigations by The Australian reveal that conservation group Friends of the Earth ... teamed up with wealthy overseas companies to back their plans to carve up pristine forest in North Queensland for a wind farm'.
- “Cam wanted me to talk to senior Ark Energy and CIP people to find a way to get the Chalumbin wind farm approved”
- "Foe didn’t seem concerned about the forests, just focusing on its relationships with Ark Energy and CIP.”
Organisations like ours that are firmly committed to phasing out fossil fuels frequently often come under attack from vested interests, of which this is but the latest example. Attempts to divide the climate and nature conservation movement are increasing, only benefit fossil fuel companies, and must be rejected.
We know that climate change threatens all natural ecosystems across the continent. Mainstream science makes it clear that we must rapidly shift away from our reliance on fossil fuels to a mix of renewables, storage and efficiency if we are to have a chance of avoiding catastrophic impacts from global heating.