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

The report analyzes the role of nominee companies—middlemen that hold shares in name only—in masking the identities of investors in Australian coal, oil, and gas projects. It finds that these structures obscure approximately 18% of Australia's national fossil fuel CO2 emissions and are predominantly operated by major global banks. The document highlights a lack of regulatory requirements for nominee disclosure in Australia, which allows investors, including some superannuation funds, to maintain stakes in high-emitting assets while avoiding public scrutiny.

• Nominee companies act as corporate middlemen that mask the identity of actual owners by holding shares in name only, which obscures the stakes of fossil fuel investors.
• Approximately 18% of Australia's annual fossil fuel CO2 emissions, totaling 23 million tonnes, are linked to companies whose ownership is hidden via nominee structures.
• The majority of Australian nominee companies identified in the Global Energy Ownership Tracker are branches of major international banks, specifically BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, and UBS.
• Nominee companies are listed as shareholders in at least 25 publicly traded Australian energy firms and are connected to more than 50 fossil fuel projects, including the Loy Yang A and Eraring power stations.
• Significant portions of shareholding in major Australian energy companies are held through nominees: nearly 70% of Origin Energy, over one-third of AGL Energy, and two-thirds of Whitehaven Coal.
• Australian superannuation funds, such as AustralianSuper, have used nominee companies like JPMorgan Nominees Australia Ltd to invest in fossil fuel entities like Whitehaven Coal Ltd.
• Australia lacks legislation regulating nominee companies; while the government proposed a beneficial ownership register in 2022 and a bill in 2024, neither included regulations for nominee shareholders, and the 2024 bill lapsed as of August 2025.

APA

Global Energy Monitor (2025). The Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil and Gas. https://globalenergymonitor.org/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM-Australia-Nominee-Companies-Report-Sept2025_3.pdf

Chicago

Global Energy Monitor. The Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil and Gas. 2025. https://globalenergymonitor.org/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM-Australia-Nominee-Companies-Report-Sept2025_3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Energy Monitor |title=The Fossil Fuel Middlemen: How Nominee Structures Obscure Australian Investments in Coal, Oil and Gas |date=October 2025 |url=https://globalenergymonitor.org/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM-Australia-Nominee-Companies-Report-Sept2025_3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalenergymonitor2025fossil, author = {{Global Energy Monitor}}, title = {{The 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/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM-Australia-Nominee-Companies-Report-Sept2025_3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }