Millionaire boss takes a swipe at young Aussies - as she exposes a major double standard
Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill said the retailers were wildly popular with Gen Z 'without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions' when she spoke at the Australian Energy Producers Conference in Brisbane this week.
Woodside made headlines on Wednesday when it was given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until the 2070s a massive gas processing plant in the Karratha region of WA as part of its North West Shelf project.
'Most people hit a switch and expect the lights to come on,' Ms O'Neill said.
'It's been a fascinating journey to watch the discussion, particularly amongst young people who have this very ideological, almost zealous view of, you know, fossil fuels bad, renewables good.
'They are happily plugging in their devices and ordering things from Shein and Temu having, you know, one little thing shipped to their house without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions.
'So that human impact and the consumer's role in driving energy demand and emissions absolutely is a missing space in the conversation.'
Ms O'Neill earned $7.45 million in reported pay in 2023 as the CEO of Woodside.
New Greens leader Larissa Waters said it was 'laughable' the CEO of a fossil fuel company was pointing the finger at young people over global warming.
'To claim with a straight face that the climate crisis is the fault of young people shopping online for goods they can afford in a cost-of-living crisis - you can't be the head of a massive dirty gas company and point the finger at other people about the climate crisis,' Waters told ABC.
'We've seen this time and time again – when fossil fuel companies feel threatened, they try to shift the blame back onto the individual and distract us from the fact that they have the power to end the climate crisis.'
Woodside's gas - most of which is exported overseas - produced 74m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2024, according to company documents.
Shein - which was founded in China in 2008 and has grown to become the largest fashion retailer in the world - emitted 16.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023 via manufacturing, online business and shipping, according to its sustainability report.
Yale Climate Connections, associated with Yale University, noted this is on par with the annual emissions from four coal power plants.
Fellow Chinese online retailer Temu doesn't publicly disclose its emissions output but is one of the major players in the fast fashion industry which is the second largest industrial polluter on the planet, contributing about 10 per cent of global emissions.
Both companies use economies of scale and exploit the 'de minimise' tax loophole -where small shipments avoid tariffs - to send millions of packages to consumers across the globe each day at incredibly cheap prices.
While Woodside scored a win with its lease extension in Karratha it still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on WA's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official.
But after years of delay, the decision by new environment minister and Queensland senator Murray Watt represents an endorsement of the sector by the Labor government.
Ms O'Neill said the conversation in Australia had evolved to recognise the role of gas in smoothing out the energy transition.
'The renewables rollout is not going as fast as had initially been anticipated, and we need to make sure that we're tackling those cost-of-living pressures that were such an important issue at the most recent election,' she told reporters.
'Increased supply of natural gas is part of the solution to help bring those power prices down.'
Saul Kavonic, an energy expert with advisory firm MST Marquee, said there was hope within the gas industry that the poor performance of the Greens in the election would allow the government to take a more investment-friendly approach.
'But the truth is, the industry is waiting to see if actions follow words,' Mr Kavonic told Sky News.
'Overall, the investment landscape in Australia is still seen as quite challenging, particularly compared to alternatives that investors can invest in, places like Texas and Louisiana in the United States.'
Replacing former environment minister Tanya Plibersek, who was vulnerable to the Greens in her inner-city Sydney electorate, with Senator Watt had been a 'massive improvement for the approvals landscape'.
Legal challenges could still jeopardise the project, which Woodside says contributes more than 2000 direct jobs and has paid more than $40 billion in taxes over the past four decades.
Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper launched a last-minute legal bid to stop the project in the Federal Court, and indicated she would continue her fight following Senator Watt's decision.
It came just hours after the United Nations said industrial development at Karratha threatened nearby Aboriginal rock art, likely sinking Australia's attempts to secure heritage listing for the carvings if the extension goes ahead.
Ms O'Neill said Woodside had worked closely with traditional custodians for more than 40 years.
'Whilst we haven't always gotten it right, we have very strong working relationships now, and we support the World Heritage listing, and we believe industry and heritage can coexist,' she said.
The existing gas fields that feed the plant will run out in the 2030s, so Woodside is hoping to tap into the nearby Browse Basin, which could provide Karratha with decades more gas through an undersea pipeline.
Ms O'Neill said the North West Shelf extension would still be worth it without Browse, because it also processes gas from other shippers, but Browse would be particularly important for domestic energy security beyond the 2030s.
'So we will continue to work with the states, the EPA and the Commonwealth department of environment on those Browse approvals,' she said.
But the massive gas field has also become a target for environmental activists, who claim it would produce 1.6 gigatons of carbon emissions over its 50 year project life.
Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O'Shanassy vowed to keep fighting the proposal.
'ACF and many others will continue to vigorously oppose the expansion of the gas industry, including the exploitation of the Browse climate bomb gas field at Scott Reef,' she said.
Independent MP Kate Chaney, who represents the WA seat of Curtin, said she had heard from her constituents on the Woodside project more than on any other issue.
'People are deeply concerned about the North West Shelf going ahead and gas expansion. It's overly simplistic to think Western Australia has one view,' she told ABC TV.
'There are people who work in the gas industry who recognise we need to have a transition, there's so much potential for WA through renewables and green industry, and we need to shift our focus to that.'
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