The following is the transcript of my Page One story in today's edition of The Australian newspaper. Habitat pics by Steven Nowakowski of wet sclerophyll forest that would have been lost if the Chalumbin wind farm had proceeded in north Queensland.
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Secretive Sydney-based charity The Sunrise Project has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from cashed up overseas financiers to spearhead the push for net zero emissions, allowing it to fill the coffers of Australian conservation groups turning a blind eye to mounting concerns about the environmental impacts of renewable energy projects.
Investigations by The Australian reveal that conservation group Friends of the Earth, one of The Sunrise Project's donation beneficiaries, teamed up with wealthy overseas companies to back their plans to carve up pristine forest in north Queensland for a wind farm.
Friends of the Earth Australia has received more than $26 million in donations and “grant income” in recent years, giving it the resources to boost an increasingly fractious campaign to keep the broader environment movement onside in support of the zero net emissions push.
The Sunrise Project received almost $343.5 million between 2018 and 2024 in grants and donations, according to annual financial statements filed with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Over the same period, the charity forked out more than $279 million in grants to groups and projects in Australia and overseas.
Sunrise has raised eyebrows by making $365,000 in payments to the controversial Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union. The charity is also under scrutiny by the Senate over an extraordinary admission that it held “strategy sessions” to hide the identity of funding sources.
The Sunrise Project has emerged as by far the most cashed up environmental lobby group in Australian history. FoE and Sunrise are registered charities, allowing tax deductibility for donations.
The Weekend Australian revealed recently growing divisions within the environment movement over the renewables push, with ecologists increasingly questioning the biodiversity and wildlife conservation costs of many projects, especially wind farms. Major conservation groups including Friends of the Earth, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Environmental Defenders Fund – along with the Greens - have been silent in the face of mounting concerns.
FoE financial reports show “grant income” increased from $402,785 in 2016 to $3,088,999 million in 2021, the peak year for receipts, with $1,985,968 received last year. A total of $14,965,551 was received in grant income between 2018 and 2025. As well, FoE listed a total of $11,640,085 in donations received between 2018 and 2025. The combined income from grants and donations over the same period was $26,505,636.
The amount of bank interest received by FoE jumped from $44,719 in 2023 to $104,378 last year, suggesting the group has amassed a substantial war chest. FoE Australia lists The Sunrise Project as a donor in annual reports. FoE Melbourne lists Sunrise as a financial supporter in its reports along with the Star of the South wind farm off the Gippsland coast in 2024 and 2025 reports.
The Australian reported last week that Star of the South and the Northern Silica Project, planned by Diatreme Resources to mine silica sand at Cape Flattery in north Queensland, had been awarded Major Project Status by the Albanese Government to fast-track environmental and financial approvals. The superannuation giant Cbus has a 10 per cent stake in Star of the South. Cbus and Diatreme Resources are chaired by national Labor president Wayne Swan, who denies having lobbied the government in support of either project.
The Sunrise Project 's financial statements show the charity received $4.7 million in donations and bequests in 2016, accounting for all but a small fraction of income. That sum had jumped to $53.2 million in 2021 and $75.3 million in 2024 in grants and donations. Funds for projects in Australia in 2024 amounted to $22,027,314, with $41,520,974 spent on overseas projects.
The Sunrise Project describes itself as a global network of independent organisations that share a common mission and common values. “We’re passionate about building networks who can drive the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy to reduce greenhouse pollution and create a healthy and prosperous future for everyone,” its website says. The charity was established in 2012 by John Hepburn, its current executive director, who previously led campaigns for Greenpeace Australia and co-founded FoE Brisbane.
Australian Electoral Commission records show the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees union received $165,000 in funding from Sunrise in the 2024-25 financial year; $50,000 in 2023-24; and $150,000 in 2022-23 - a total of $365,000 across three years.
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| John Helpburn - Facebook |
All branches of the construction division of the CFMEU were placed into administration by the federal government in August 2024 following allegations the union has engaged in bullying, corruption and criminal infiltration.
A Sunrise spokesperson said the funds were paid to the union's maritime division to support its “policy advocacy to ensure responsible decommissioning of offshore oil and gas rigs at the end of their life so taxpayers aren’t left to clean up the mess”. The charity said the $165,000 payment in 2024-25 was made before the August 2024 administration development.
Cbus has been in the media spotlight recently with revelations that the superannuation fund's property developer, Earle Setches, was filmed in January dining on a yacht in Melbourne with underworld figure Mick Gatto. A CFMEU-appointed Cbus director, Lucy Weber, resigned last month following reports she was in a secret relationship with the union's former national secretary, Zach Smith.
Donations to Sunrise averaged $177,000 in 2023 but individual American and European donors forked out much more, with the United States identified as the largest source country for funds. Prominent among benefactors in 2023 was the California-based Sequoia Climate Foundation chaired by American hedge fund billionaire C. Frederick Taylor. Other well-heeled American donors included Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Zega Family Foundation, both based in New York, and the Washington-based Wallace Global Fund. Australian donors include Boundless Earth, founded by Sydney software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Sunrise's combined revenue jumped from $86.4 million in 2022 to $121.9 million in 2023. While much of its work is focused in Australia, the charity supported pro-renewable projects in 31 other countries in 2023. Grants given to charities often have conditions governing how money is spent. FoE and Sunrise are not required to reveal the identity of donors or the quantities of individual donations and conditions attached to them.
During a hearing in February 2025 of the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, Liberal senator Jane Hume read an email sent by Mr Hepburn to an unidentified foreign donor. Mr Hepburn wrote: “We have a strategy session with our lawyers and board to plan out our response. As part of this we are seeking advice on steps we might take to avoid disclosure, challenge and limit disclosure, or to ensure that any disclosure is limited to the committee members and is not made public. I do have concerns about the potential PR impact of disclosure of both our funding and grantees.”
Senator Hume told the committee she found it concerning that Mr Hepburn was potentially facilitating foreign donations and intentionally designing a scheme to avoid transparency in Australia.
A Sunrise spokesperson defended the right of donors to privacy: “Some funders are happy to be disclosed. Others request privacy and Sunrise respects this right to the extent possible alongside our compliance and reporting obligations - particularly in a context where the energy transition is so deeply politicised and fossil fuel interests are known to intimidate opponents.”
Under Australia's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, entities are required to register certain activities if they are taken on behalf of a foreign principal; a foreign principal includes a “foreign political organisation”. Registrable activities include political lobbying and communications activities. Whether a foreign donor to an Australian charity engaged in political debate could potentially be regarded as a “political organisation” has not been tested.
A spokesperson for Sunrise said its foreign donors are not political organisations. An Attorney-General's Department spokesperson said exemptions from the scheme may apply to certain charity activities, but the department does not comment on its application to particular entities.
FoE's “grant income” spike of more than $3 million in 2021 coincides with a flurry of activity by the group on the renewables front, with leaked emails providing a rare insight into lobbying by some of the industry's biggest players. An email was sent in November that year by Matthew Stuchbery, then Australian vice-president of Danish renewables giant Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Australia, to Ark Energy communications head Melissa Pisani and FoE national campaign director Cam Walker.
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| Cam Walker - Facebook |
CIP is a key player in Australian renewable energy projects and the financier of the Star of the South wind farm. The company at the time was considering investing in a controversial wind farm, Chalumbin, planned by renewables heavyweight Ark Energy near Ravenshoe on Queensland's Atherton Tableland. Ark Energy is a subsidiary of Seoul-based Korea Zinc.
Referring to Mr Walker, Mr Stutchbery wrote: “We’ve worked closely with FoE in the context of Star of the South, and Cam has been very helpful in relaying information from their people in North Queensland.” Mr Stutchbery, until recently the chair of Queensland Renewable Energy Council, is now an advisor to CIP and Star of the South.
At the time as the CIP dispatch, Mr Walker wrote to Rainforests Reserves Australia vice-president Steven Nowakowski, a leading critic of Chalumbin. Mr Walker wrote: “Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners want to buy into the Chalumbin project but want to make sure it's going to be acceptable.”
The Chalumbin project, planned over a large area of wet sclerophyll forest adjoining the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, was withdrawn by Ark Energy in 2024 following years of fierce community opposition. Mr Nowakowski said he was astonished by Mr Walker's approach. “Cam wanted me to talk to senior Ark Energy and CIP people to find a way to get the Chalumbin wind farm approved,” he said.
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| Matthew Stutchbery |
“I have been involved with conservation groups all of my life and I have never witnessed a conservation group working with multi-billion-dollar companies trying to get a development over the line. This was the most obscene development, hard up against a world heritage area with gorgeous forests, and FoE didn’t seem concerned about the forests, just focusing on its relationships with Ark Energy and CIP.”
Asked if the emails indicated a close working relationship between FoE and CIP, a CIP spokesperson said: “Friends of the Earth is one of many interested stakeholders our projects engage with as part of regular outreach activities.” Ark Energy declined to comment on its connections with FoE, as did Mr Walker.
CIP got some bad news recently when authorities announced that Spain's biggest wind farm development, the Maestrazgo cluster of 120 wind farms, had been suspended pending the outcome of a corruption probe by the country's Civil Guard into environmental approvals obtained by Forestalia, the company that was initially developing the project. Maestrazgo was acquired by CIP in 2024. There is no suggestion CIP was involved in or was aware of wrong-doing.
Mr Walker was a witness at a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy last November. Mr Walker was asked by current Nationals leader Matt Cnavan about the nature of $1.6 million in grant income received by FoE in 2023.
Mr Walker responded: “It wouldn't be government granting; it would be philanthropic foundations.” Asked if money came from renewable energy companies, either directly or through other organisations, Mr Walker responded: “To the best of my knowledge, no.”
Financial support from Star of the South and The Sunrise Project are referenced in recent FoE reports. Misleading a committee hearing can be potentially regarded as contempt of the Senate. A FoE spokesperson said Mr Walker’s response was not misleading.
A Star of the South spokesperson said the only money directed by the wind farm to FoE was $6,000 for the 2023 Transform Expo that show-cased renewable projects in Gippsland. A FoE spokesperson said the money was not a donation but a fee for an “event cost”.
In response to The Weekend Australian's recent coverage of splits in the environment movement over renewables, Mr Walker said on Facebook: “The Australian exists to hurt green politics and it's always very unwise to rely it to push an issue.”
The Senate committee has been examining the use by Rainforest Reserves Australia of AI in editing submissions to government authorities about renewable energy projects, resulting in errors such as references to non-existent government bodies. Labor and Greens senators have joined with FoE in repeatedly attacking RRA over the editing. FoE says the committee is probing the “spread of disinformation”.
A fossil fuel industry submission to the committee makes a comparable mistake. Coal-mining industry advocate and former Bowen Coal chair Nick Jorss claimed in the submission that the Whitsunday Conservation Council was one of several groups funded by The Sunrise Project that was a “network of aligned entities” sustained by “foreign-linked funding streams”.
WCC secretary Faye Chapman said the claim is untrue. “Whitsunday Conservation Council has never received funding from The Sunrise Project,” Ms Chapman said. Mr Jorss conceded the claim “could be a mistake”. Mr Jorss said he stood by his submission's assertion that a “Sunrise blueprint has successfully captured Australia’s conservation movement”, while Sunrise and its donor recipients “turn a blind eye to tens of thousands of hectares of native habitat destroyed by large wind and solar projects”.
Groups to garner funding from Sunrise other than FoE include the Queensland Conservation Council, which received $89,118 in 2022-23; QCC describes Sunrise as a “major donor”. Climate Action Network Australia says Sunrise is a “generous donor”. The Capricorn Conservation Council acknowledges Sunrise donations of $11,111 in 2022 and $63,888 in 2023.
Sunrise defends its financial support for environmental groups. “The Sunrise Project's mission is to scale social movements to drive the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as swiftly as possible,” a spokesperson said. “ We do this by supporting and collaborating with a wide range of community organisations to protect Australia's environment. The crisis in Iran shows that Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels isn’t just a climate issue, it’s a national security issue and a sovereign energy issue. Funding comes from philanthropic supporters, including Australian and international philanthropists, trusts and foundations that share a commitment to environmental protection and climate action.”
The monetary fortunes of Friends of the Earth and the Sunrise Project stand in stark contrast to the finances of Mr Nowakowski's Cairns-based Rainforests Reserves Australia, the leading conservation group opposing many renewables. A “dirt file” circulated to the media by the offices of federal environment minister Murray Watt and energy minister Chris Bowen makes much of the fact that in recent years, Mr Nowakowski has become a supporter of nuclear power as part of the energy mix.
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| Steven Nowakowski |
“Mr Nowakowski’s conversion to nuclear power coincides with a dramatic change in the finances of the organisation he claims to represent,” the file says. The most recent returns for RRA show the group received $72,275 in donations from regional communities in 2023 and $101,934 in 2024. Mr Nowakowski said he has received a single payment related to nuclear power - funding from the Massachusetts Clean Air Task Force to allow him to attend a seminar on nuclear energy last year in Warsaw.
Respected long-time environmental activist and co-founder of the Australian Greens, Drew Hutton, said of groups receiving financial support from some donors: “You can’t keep an energy or mining company honest if you are accepting money from them. They are holding you hostage. The capture of an environmental NGO usually involves that organisation turning a blind eye to environmentally harmful activities they should be opposing.”
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| Drew Hutton |
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