Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil, and Gas

A report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) examines how nominee companies—middlemen that hold shares in name only—are used to obscure the identity of actual investors in Australian fossil fuel assets. The analysis finds that these structures hide the ownership of assets responsible for approximately 18% of Australia's national fossil fuel CO2 emissions.

• Nominee companies in Australia obscure the ownership of fossil fuel assets responsible for 23 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, which represents approximately 18% of the national total.
• The majority of Australian nominee companies identified in the Global Energy Ownership Tracker are branches of major global banks, specifically BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, and UBS. These entities appear as shareholders in at least 25 publicly listed energy firms and are linked to more than 50 fossil fuel projects.
• Three specific nominee companies—JPMorgan Nominees Australia Pty Ltd, Citicorp Nominees Pty Ltd, and HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Ltd—obscure over 22 million tonnes of annual CO2 emissions. These three entities are connected to high-emission and high-pollution sites, including the Loy Yang A coal plant (Australia's largest single carbon polluter), the Eraring coal plant, and the Torrens Island gas plant.
• Significant portions of shareholding in major Australian energy companies are held via nominee structures: nearly 70% of Origin Energy, over one-third of AGL Energy, and two-thirds of Whitehaven Coal.
• Australian superannuation funds use nominee companies to invest in fossil fuels, sometimes contradicting their own climate pledges. For example, AustralianSuper increased its stake in Whitehaven Coal Ltd to 5.07% via JPMorgan Nominees Australia Ltd in May 2025, despite a 2020 pledge to divest from the company.
• Australia lacks legislation regulating nominee companies, allowing investors to remain hidden. While the government proposed a beneficial ownership register in 2022 and drafted a bill in late 2024, neither included regulations for nominee shareholders, and the first-stage bill lapsed as of August 2025.

APA

Louis, G. (2025). Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil, and Gas. Global Energy Monitor. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/fossil-fuel-middlemen-how-nominee-structures-obscure-australian-investments-coal-oil-and-0

Chicago

Louis, Gabe. Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil, and Gas. Global Energy Monitor, 2025. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/fossil-fuel-middlemen-how-nominee-structures-obscure-australian-investments-coal-oil-and-0.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Louis |first1=Gabe |title=Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil, and Gas |publisher=Global Energy Monitor |date=29 October 2025 |url=https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/fossil-fuel-middlemen-how-nominee-structures-obscure-australian-investments-coal-oil-and-0 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{louis2025fossil, author = {Louis, Gabe}, title = {{Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil, and Gas}}, institution = {Global Energy Monitor}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/fossil-fuel-middlemen-how-nominee-structures-obscure-australian-investments-coal-oil-and-0}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }