Tell the Albanese Government to assess the Browse gas proposal’s climate pollution impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.
What is going on?
The Australian Government is now accepting public submissions on whether it should consider the impacts of climate pollution from a WA fossil gas project on the Great Barrier Reef.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) submitted a request for the Minister for the Environment to consider an independent expert report that quantifies the number of coral deaths from mass bleaching events that would be expected if Woodside’s Browse gas proposal in WA goes ahead. Based on peer-reviewed research released last year, this evidence creates a new opportunity for those impacts to be considered in the government’s assessment of the proposal.
Now the public has a chance to support ACF’s calls for the government to consider climate impacts to the Great Barrier Reef when assessing a fossil fuel project. With back-to-back bleaching events in 2024 and 2025, it has never been more imperative for the government to exercise all possible options to prevent any further damage to the reef.
What is the Browse gas proposal?
The Browse gas proposal is a proposal by WA-based fossil fuel company Woodside Energy to drill for fossil gas just 3 km from Scott Reef, an ancient coral reef system located 270 km off north-west WA’s Kimberley Coast. It’s a biodiversity hotspot that’s home to more than 1,500 different species, including endangered pygmy blue whales and a genetically unique population of green turtles.
Woodside’s Browse gas proposal would not only pose an existential threat to Scott Reef through industrial activity and pollution, but it will also have wider-reaching climate impacts on places like the Great Barrier Reef by emitting over 1.6 billion tonnes of emissions over the lifetime of the project.
What can I do?
Participating in the public consultation process is essential to demonstrate to the Australian Government that there is strong community support for the proper consideration of Browse’s climate impacts on the environment.
To be included in the public consultation process, you can:
- Sign on to AMCS’s submission – your name will be considered as an individual submission by the Department
- Write your own submission via the Australian Government’s Public Portal (see instructions below)
How to make a submission
To have your say, address your submission to Minister for the Environment Murray Watt and upload it by 21 July 2026 via the Australian Government’s EPBC Public Portal.
- Go to the EPBC Act Public Portal.
- Click the ‘Make Comment’ button at the bottom of the page.
- Provide a title for your comment, such as “The government should assess the Browse gas proposal’s climate impacts on the Great Barrier Reef”
- Provide your name and email address
- Answer YES to “Do you consider there is substantial new information available about the impacts the action has, will have or is likely to have on a matter protected under Part 3* of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act)?”
- Under “Provide reasons for your answer and/or any comments below”, make sure to include the below information. A sample response has been provided further down in this guide to assist you.
- Why you believe this new information is substantial;
- Why you believe the Minister should make a new decision about the Browse gas proposal that enables assessment of climate impacts; and
- Why you are concerned about the climate and nature impacts of the Browse gas proposal
- Skip the other questions about the reconsideration request and scroll down to answer the remaining questions on confidentiality, privacy, and declaration.
- Press “Submit your comment”
Sample response
My name is [your name], and I am from [state you live in].
The analysis provided in the Australian Conservation Foundation’s (ACF) reconsideration request represents substantial new information available about the impacts of the Browse gas proposal on the Great Barrier Reef, a protected matter under the EPBC Act.
Given this, the original referral decision for the Browse gas proposal should be revised to account for these climate impacts.
The evidence provided by ACF is new and substantial because:
- It uses a novel methodology to quantify the climate harms from the Browse gas proposal, which was previously not possible
- The methodology is from an authoritative, peer-reviewed source
- It demonstrates that the approximately 1.6 billion tonnes of climate pollution from the Browse gas proposal will have a causal effect on future mass bleaching events and coral deaths, further compromising the health and survival of the Great Barrier Reef
The new methodology by Abrams et al. (2025) allows for practical application of a universally accepted science: every additional tonne of CO2 adds to global warming that harms the environment and therefore, individual polluting projects contribute to climate change. Now that it is possible to quantify the causal relationship between project-level emissions and projected ecological impacts like coral bleaching, the government has an obligation to consider this analysis to protect environmental matters under the EPBC Act.
Since the Browse gas proposal was first considered in 2018, the condition of the GBRMP has declined significantly. The GBRMP has now experienced six mass bleaching events in less than a decade. Consecutive bleaching events occurred in both 2016-17 and 2024-25, with 2024 marking the largest annual decline in coral cover since monitoring began.
The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2024 concludes that climate change remains the greatest threat to the Reef and that its overall outlook remains Very Poor, with each additional increment of global warming further compromising the Reef’s health. As such, I support the ACF’s request that you reconsider how the Browse gas proposal is being assessed and include the consequences for the Great Barrier Reef in that assessment.
Header image: Nush Freedman Photography