Climate position and advocacy

We have put the low-carbon transition at the heart of our business strategy: combining investments in commodities that enable the energy transition with actions to decarbonise our operations and value chains.

Our position on climate change

In 2015, we supported the adoption of the Paris Agreement and its long-term goal to limit global average temperature rise to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. Government policy that creates the right framework for change is critical, coupled with real business action and societal shifts. A challenge as serious as climate change requires transparency, collaboration and a shared contribution to the solution. To meet our decarbonisation goals and to support global goals, we need policy that promotes the production and consumption of low-carbon metals and minerals.

Summary of our positions on climate change policy

1. We agree with the mainstream climate science published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We support the Glasgow Climate Pact, in which governments resolved to pursue efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C that “requires rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030 relative to the 2010 level and to net zero around mid-century, as well as deep reductions in other greenhouse gases”. Consequently, we do not advocate for policies that undermine the Paris Agreement or discount Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

2. Business has a vital role in addressing and managing the risks and uncertainties of climate change and driving emissions to net zero. A range of policy measures is necessary to support the early movers in our sector that innovate and deploy low-carbon technology. Our policy principles provide a common architecture for the positions we take in different jurisdictions – policy should be effective, fair, pragmatic, market-based and support free trade.

3. A market-based price on carbon is the most effective way to incentivise the private sector to make low-carbon investments and drive down emissions. Carbon pricing is the most effective incentive for business to reduce emissions, but may not be sufficient for hard-to-abate parts of our carbon footprint, such as process heat and carbon anodes, and remain commercially competitive in a global market.

4. Minerals and metals are globally traded, so effective climate policy should incentivise the private sector to invest in low-carbon technology without undermining the competitiveness of trade-exposed industries and shifting production, jobs and supply chains to countries with lower emissions standards (carbon leakage). If there is significant regional variation in carbon prices, carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM), or alternative policies, are necessary to limit leakage, provided they are pragmatic, effective and equitable.

5. Carbon pricing, on its own, might not be sufficient to transform the metals sector. Other policy tools are necessary to tackle emissions and simultaneously achieve objectives related to industrial policy. These can include:

• grant funding, tax incentives and investment incentives to support research and development, innovation and first-of-a-kind projects
• product standards and procurement obligations (such as minimum and rising requirements for low or zero carbon metal) that drive deployment of pre-commercial technology.