Campaigners are calling for the Tour Down Under to follow the example of Tennis Australia and abandon its sponsorship deal with Santos as the oil company’s boss says those looking for a faster transition to renewable energy are “dreaming”.
Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher has defended the oil and gas company in the face of increasing pressure over its efforts to open up new gas fields, telling the Sydney Morning Herald there is currently “no alternative” to fossil fuels.
“Unless you can replace us tomorrow with some new green fuel that we don’t know what it is today, then the focus should be on developing energy that’s affordable and cleaning it up by reducing emissions until alternatives are viable and affordable,” Gallagher said.
He said fossil fuel companies were the only organisations with experience managing “mega-projects spending trillions of dollars globally every single year” and any transition to a zero carbon economy was not possible without them.
“If someone thinks some new set of project builders is just going to arrive from somewhere else with trillions of dollars to start building some new energy infrastructure globally ... they are dreaming,” he said.
Gallagher’s comments come as sporting events like the Tour Down Under festival of cycling, which began on Monday and is sponsored by Santos, face increasing pressure to divest from fossil fuel sponsorships owing to their contribution to climate change.
Belinda Noble, founder of Comms Declare which monitors the work public relations firms do for fossil fuel companies, said Santos’ sponsorship of sports at all levels was a way to gain “clout and political influence”.
“They’re not doing this for altruistic reasons – it’s hard-headed business to create social licence for their polluting products,” Noble said.
“Sports allows them deep engagement with the communities they operate in. The Tour Down Under is a good example, as there are so many prongs of their marketing campaign.
“It’s deep in the community with events and local activation. It really helps them peddle the myths that gas is required to make Australia work.”
As the Tour Down Under and Festival of Cycling are owned by the South Australian Tourism Commission and managed by Events South Australia, Noble said the close association of the state government meant comments like those from Gallagher raised a significant “reputational risk”.
“Gallagher’s job is to promote gas. He’s very good at that. But whatever he thinks is irrelevant,” Noble said. “As South Australia has recently shown, we can run on 100% renewables now,” she said.
Renewable energy met all of South Australia’s demand for power for almost a full week between 23 December and 29 December last year.
Santos’ sponsorship of the Tour Down Under has faced sustained opposition over the past two years, including a petition that has so far attracted 5,000 signatures. Professional cyclists including Grace Brown, Cyrus Monk, Jack Marshall, Kirsty Deacon and Stuart Alexander have also signed a statement calling for an end to the deal.
Fossil Free SA’s Paul Boundy said the ongoing arrangement was “ironic” given the Tour Down Under route ran through areas bushfire affected areas in 2020 and the event 2019 had some routes shortened due to extreme heat.
“Sports were once sponsored by cigarettes and we got rid of cigarettes,” Boundy said. “Sports can function at a professional level without greenwashing the most damaging companies.”
Boundy said his group wanted the South Australian Tourism Commission to follow the example of Tennis Australia and end the relationship with Santos in favour of an alternative sponsor when the contract comes up for renewal in 2023.
“Fossil fuels aren’t the only option,” Boundy said.
Extinction Rebellion in South Australia has separately announced plans to protest the sponsorship by blocking the Tour Down Under route during the race.
Few details are known about the terms of the arrangement with Santos but a sponsorship agreement giving the oil company naming rights was signed in 2019, extending a decade-long partnership.
Events South Australia executive director Hitaf Rasheed defended the arrangement, saying the Tour Down Under brought “activity, enjoyment and much-needed economy activity to South Australia” and was a major driver of tourism.
“Similar to major events around the world, this much-loved sporting event relies on the investment of sponsors to be able to put the event on, but also to ensure it maintains its world-class offering,” Rasheed said.
“We truly value the support of sponsors, including Santos as naming rights sponsor, and our other premier, major, corporate and supporting sponsors.”
Santos is seeking to develop new gas projects in the Beetaloo Basin, Barossa, and Narrabri.
Last year the International Energy Agency said limiting global heating to 1.5C, a goal set out in the Paris agreement, meant exploration and exploitation of new fossil fuel basins had to stop in 2021.
