Members of the group stood outside the Commonwealth Bank in Howick Street to urge the bank to refrain from investing in the giant mine.

Their protest included speeches about the impact of the mine, along with signs, anti-Adani songs and handouts to be given to passersby. 

BCCAN members also dressed in white to symbolise coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef due to warming ocean temperatures.

BCCAN secretary Sally Neaves said various groups were taking action ahead of the bank’s board meeting on June 13.

At the meeting, the bank will decide its policy on climate change into the future. 

“We are asking them to make a statement to say ‘No, we’re going to distance ourselves from this mine because of all the problems that it is going to cause for the climate’,” Ms Neaves said.

“We’re saying that the future is not invested in coal, it is invested in renewables.” 

Environmentalists take several issues with any investment in the Adani mine, one of the major ones being that emissions from burning fossil fuels are causing global warming.

Another is that the world is moving on from coal, making the project “economically doubtful in the medium to long term”, BCCAN said.

Ms Neaves said the effects off climate change can be seen at the Great Barrier Reef and are starting to be seen closer to home.

“We’re starting to see all sorts of impacts of climate change here in the Central West in the degraded soils, limited water supplies, also caused by mining, but climate change too … and all the biodiversity losses that we’re having which are impacting the planet,” she said. 

Ms Neaves said she was happy to see so many people attend the protest and conduct themselves in a positive manner. 

“It is a really joyful atmosphere, very friendly atmosphere, which is great to see the Bathurst community getting behind it,” she said.

In addition to the protest measures outside the bank, BCCAN delivered signed letters to the staff inside to cement its stance on Adani.