Coal is back in AustralianSuper’s portfolio. What happened to that net zero pledge?

In 2020 Australia's biggest super fund dumped its Whitehaven shares. Fast forward to 2026 and it is now the coalminer's single biggest investor

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Almost six years ago, the country's biggest superannuation fund announced a major policy update: AustralianSuper's investment portfolio would be subject to a net zero carbon emissions target in line with the Paris agreement.

To make the point, the fund dumped its holdings in the large thermal and metallurgical coalminer Whitehaven Coal.