MasterChef, drop your dodgy gas sponsorship!

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Send your message to MasterChef!

We love MasterChef, but the destructive fossil fuel industry is ruining all our fun by using the show to cook and serve their dodgy lies about ‘renewable’ gas and hydrogen.

Send MasterChef a message today that you want them to lead by example and drop their greenwashing partnership with their fossil fuel sponsor, the Australian Gas Network.

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Read Our Petition Message

Dear MasterChef,

Please end your partnership with Australian Gas Networks (AGN) and follow the example of MasterChef in the UK, Italy, Denmark and Spain by adopting induction cooktops – a healthier and safer alternative to polluting and unhealthy methane gas cooktops.
Australian Gas Networks (AGN) have paid a lot of money to make sure your audience doesn’t see how great induction cooking is so they can stall progress and protect their huge profits.

What’s worse is that AGN is using the MasterChef kitchen to cook up the false impression that hydrogen and biomethane are credible replacements for polluting methane gas. The companies that own the gas networks have been peddling these myths in an attempt to protect their massive profits – but they can’t do the job and, like methane gas, they are both harmful to human health.

The harms of biomethane and hydrogen in the gas network

Just like conventional methane gas, burning biomethane in your home would release harmful pollutants like nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) that can exacerbate respiratory illnesses and contribute to childhood asthma. In fact, a child living in a home with gas cooktops is 42% more likely to develop asthma, comparable to a child living with household cigarette smoke. [1]

When burnt, hydrogen produces even more harmful nitrogen oxides, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2) [2] that damage the lungs and increase the risk and severity of respiratory infections and asthma.

Hydrogen is also more prone to escaping via leaks. A UK lab tested the use of hydrogen blended gas in best-selling cooktops and water heaters and all suffered major leaks when hydrogen was added to the mix.

Why they won’t work

Both biomethane and hydrogen would be far too expensive to use in the gas network, but they also suffer numerous other physical limitations. Biomethane production could never keep up with our existing needs, and it’s estimated it could only ever replace a very small fraction (less than 10%) of methane gas use. When it comes to hydrogen, this would require a complete (and very expensive) overhaul of the gas network and every existing gas appliance would need to be replaced at the same time. It simply makes no sense given electrification is already a more cost-efficient alternative.

The solution to cutting pollution, protecting our health and lowering bills is already available – clean, efficient electric appliances. Please drop the AGN sponsorship and stop helping them to serve up their cocktail of deception. The presentation might look nice, but the facts leave a bitter taste! I also ask that you follow the lead of MasterChef in other countries by using induction cooktops, and let Australian audiences see for themselves why so many leading chefs are switching to induction cooking.

Footnotes

[1] https://asthma.org.au/about-us/advocacy/air-quality/

[2] https://www.cleanegroup.org/hydrogen-hype-in-the-air/

For 13 seasons MasterChef has been a household staple, and one of Australia’s most beloved TV programs. From Poh’s incredible creations, appearances from Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey, and an incredible fusion of all-around yum food.

But this season the gas industry is using MasterChef to greenwash their pollution!

Victorians are electrifying at record pace, turning to clean, renewable energy sources. In the UK, Italy, Denmark, Singapore and Spain MasterChef has taken the opportunity to show audiences how good cooking with efficient modern electric appliances really is.

But here in Australia, powerful industry fossil fuel group the Australian Gas Networks are paying MasterChef big bucks to try and stall progress away from polluting methane gas to protect their huge profits. The industry is using MasterChef to spread dodgy claims about gases like hydrogen and bio-methane, lying to audiences that these can be used in our gas network. The gas industry is taking MasterChef for a ride and ruining all our fun.

Let’s stir things up by telling MasterChef Australia to drop their partnership with the fossil fuel industry!

We know that Hydrogen and Biomethane in our networks is nothing but a pipe dream.

We’ll never make enough biomethane to be more than a tiny fraction (10%) of our current gas use and hydrogen, as well as being far too expensive for household use, would require a complete overhaul of the gas network and replacement of every gas appliance in our homes.

It’s nothing but a cynical industry tactic to preserve their massive profits by trying to delay progress that would make clean, affordable, electric appliances more accessible for everyone.

We’re not going to let them whisk this away, when it’s a recipe for climate disaster! Join us in asking MasterChef to drop this bad egg.

The solution to cutting pollution, protecting our health and lowering bills is already available – clean, efficient electric appliances. It is more important than ever for MasterChef to stand up to the gas industry and refuse to help them glaze over the damage gas does to our health and environment.

P.S. Share this petition with friends, family and your fellow MasterChef fans to spread the message that greenwashing doesn’t belong in our kitchens!