A leading scientist who features in David Attenborough’s new series about the Great Barrier Reef has told the Australian government it cannot expand coal exports and continue to claim to be protecting the reef.



The government is planning a big tourism campaign to run at the same time as the new series screens around the world.

Biologist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg made the remarks to Guardian Australia as Tourism Australia “clarified” the purpose of its $1.5m in funding for the BBC project. It retracted public statements that the money was a no-strings contribution to the production of the three-part series and said it had now been informed the funds were used for a subsequent educational campaign.

Hoegh-Guldberg compered a panel discussion with Sir David, Sir Richard Branson, explorer and marine biologist Sylvia Earle and the director general of WWF-International Marco Lambertini at La Maison des Oceans in Paris on Saturday ahead of a special screening of the first episode of the series.

Australia’s environment minister Greg Hunt firmly requested – some said demanded – a chance to speak after the screening because of Australia’s financial contribution to the series, sources told Guardian Australia.

Hoegh-Guldberg, a professor and director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, cut off a question to the panel about the incompatibility of approving Adani’s $16bn proposed coalmine in Queensland and protecting the reef, saying the minister would answer it in his remarks after the screening. Hunt did not address the question, but in answer to a similar question earlier at the Paris conference claimed rejecting the mine would have amounted to “neo-colonialism” by Australia. He did mention Australia’s $140m “reef trust” to combat soil erosion, crown of thorns starfish and other threats.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Hoegh-Guldberg said in his opinion opening the coalmine was incompatible with limiting global warming to 2C, or 1.5C in the longer term, goals considered necessary for the future of the reef.

“There’s a disjunct between the agreement that we have to keep global warming below 2 degrees, and 1.5 degrees in the longer term, necessary for the healthy future of the reef, and opening the world’s largest coalmine. Anyone would see that as strange and the government needs to face the fact that expanding our coal and gas exports is not consistent with the imperative of keeping 80% of fossil fuel reserves in the ground. We need to resolve that as a government and as a nation,” he said. “We can’t have it both ways.”

A spokesman for Tourism Australia told Guardian Australia on Tuesday it had invested $1.5m to assist in the production of the series because it complemented a new campaign featuring Australia’s “aquatic and coastal experiences”.

He said Tourism Australia had no involvement in the editorial decision-making or script, but had taken “the opportunity to invest in a series with global reach that will shine a light on the Great Barrier Reef, one of the most popular attractions in Australia”.

“The timing could not be better for us because our new tourism campaign is all about aquatic and coastal experiences,” he said.

But Atlantic Productions, the company that made the series, said Tourism Australia was wrong.

“No Australian government funding went into the production of the BBC television series. Separately, Tourism Australia is assisting in the production of an educational IMAX 3D film about the Great Barrier Reef to be launched in 2017, with various outreach and educational projects which will also be launched later,” a spokeswoman said.

“Neither Tourism Australia nor the Australian government had any input in or editorial control over the series” which had been “made under the normal strict editorial guidelines governing a BBC project,” she said.

Tourism Australia’s executive general manager of corporate affairs, Karen Halbert, then contacted Guardian Australia to say Atlantic Productions had “asked that we clarify our position with Atlantic on this project”.

“Tourism Australia funded part of a multi-platform media project (which includes an IMAX 3D film as well as various outreach and educational projects) between Atlantic Productions and Tourism Australia aimed at inspiring greater interest in the world’s largest coral reef system. We have been informed by Atlantic Productions that our investment has not been allocated into the production of the BBC television series,” she said.

At the Paris screening, Hoegh-Guldberg asked Sir David what would happen if world leaders did not agree to limit warming to 1.5C because of the cost.

“The expense of not doing it is gigantic,” the filmmaker said.

“Seventy per cent of all fish species are dependent on the coral reef at some stage in their lives. If we were to lose coral reefs, the biological and ecological destruction of life in the ocean would be enormous and for those people who live on the coast and depend on fish for their food it would be a major loss.”

Queensland’s environment minister, Steven Miles, has also said that “the greatest long-term threat to the Great Barrier Reef is climate change. If we are serious about protecting the Great Barrier Reef, we need the Australian government to stand up and do our bit to reduce carbon pollution and limit global warming.”

The Australian government has backed the 1.5C goal in the new climate agreement, but its national greenhouse gas reduction target has been branded as “inadequate”.

Climate change is addressed in the third episode of the BBC series, dealing with threats to the reef. Australia House in London recently hosted celebrities including the Duke of Edinburgh and chef Heston Blumenthal to a special screening of the episode.

Conservation groups have asked the federal court to overturn Hunt’s approval of Adani’s Carmichael mine because he did not take into account the impact on the reef of the greenhouse gases emitted when the coal is burned.



A recent report found the coal from the mine would create annual emissions similar to those from countries such as Malaysia and Austria, and more than New York City.