PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The president and CEO of German multinational conglomerate Siemens, Joe Kaeser, has told a press conference in Munich that the company may have taken the decision not to get involved in the Carmichael coal project, in Australia, had it been aware of anti-coal sentiments in the region.

Siemens in December last year inked a contract with Indian major Adani to provide signalling for the project, a move which has caused a significant backlash from environmental groups.

Siemens in January decided to uphold the contract, with Kaeser explaining at the time that the Carmichael project had been approved by the local and federal governments, Australian courts and the indigenous people in the region, with the environmental approvals process including a number of public consultations.

Kaeser said that correspondence from then Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matthew Canavan, had also indicated that the Australian people had "clearly voted to support Adani at the federal election in May 2019, especially in regional Queensland", and that it "would be an insult to the working people of Australia and the growing needs of India to bow to the pressure of anti-Adani protestors".

Kaeser said last month that there was practically no legally and economically responsible way to unwind the contract with Adani without neglecting fiduciary duties, and given that competing offers had been made for the signalling system, the project would have gone ahead regardless of Siemens’ involvement.

However, Kaeser noted that Siemens had secured the right to pull out of the contract if Adani violated the stringent environmental obligations at Carmichael.

“We’ve reviewed the situation, made a decision and explained the reasoning behind it. If we were again in a situation in which we could freely decide, the outcome would certainly be different,” he told press in Munich this week.

“But none of this changes the fact that the signalling system we’re delivering for safe and secure rail service is irrelevant as far as the commissioning of the controversial mine is concerned.”

Kaeser said that given Siemens had announced it would be climate neutral by 2030, and would reduce its emissions by 50% by this time, it seemed "almost grotesque" that a large number of environmental activists have targeted the company because of the signalling system being provided to Adani.