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Reuters
07-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Digging to zero? Inside the race to decarbonise mining
Summary Mining accounts for 4-7% of global emissions But nickel, cobalt, lithium and copper needed for energy transition Australia's Fortescue developing own technology to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions in Pilbara mine Copper mine in DRC to procure baseload power from solar and storage system Despite progress, pace of decarbonisation uneven across sector May 6 - The resources needed to decarbonise the world economy lie buried beneath the Earth. There is no alternative to digging them out if the energy transition is to take place. Without mining, there will be no silicon for solar panels, no steel for wind turbines, no lithium, cobalt or nickel for electric vehicles. However mining itself accounts for 4-7% of global emissions. While an estimated 75-85% of the sector's emissions come from methane released from coal mines , this problem is expected to abate over the next 25 years as the world gets on course for net-zero. That's why the focus is on decarbonising other forms of mining that are vital to the energy transition, where demand is rapidly rising. The International Energy Agency projects that reaching net-zero will mean a 50% rise in demand for copper by 2040, along with a doubling of nickel and cobalt demand, and an eightfold increase in demand for lithium. As the mining industry looks to confront the challenge of producing more while emitting less, the company that appears to be front of the pack is Australian iron ore giant Fortescue. Rather than relying on carbon offsets to compensate for its residual emissions (Fortescue's website describes carbon offsets as a 'scam'), the company decided in 2022 to aim instead for 'real zero'. Its billionaire chairman, Andrew Forrest, is a ferocious critic of 'net-zero'; in April, he told the Innovation Zero conference in London that 'the word 'net' is killing us', demanding instead that companies find ways to stop burning fossil fuels. As such, Fortescue has committed to eliminating terrestrial Scope 1 and 2 emissions from its vast iron ore mining operations across an 87,000 square km area of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. And it aims to hit this milestone not in 2050, but in 2030. 'We said, 'Okay, let's pick a top-down target of 2030, backed by real climate science that is now undeniable, and put that mark in the sand and set that as an industry target',' says Dino Otranto, CEO of Fortescue Metals. 'We wanted to be the exemplar and demonstrate it's possible. But that meant we had to carry out that plan in a very unconventional way.' The first task, he says, has been to convert Fortescue's mining operations from diesel and, to a lesser extent, gas. It aims to deploy 2-3 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power, backed up by enormous battery storage systems. The 'biggest enabler' in making this viable, says Otranto, has been the steep decline in the cost of solar panels and batteries in recent years. 'The cost of renewable infrastructure is now significantly cheaper than its gas equivalent.' Switching to renewables is a huge undertaking that also involves the build-out of an extensive transmission network to bring power to where it is needed across the Pilbara region. But the really unconventional element of Fortescue's $6.2 billion decarbonisation plan is its investment in its own proprietary technology. The company has developed several designs for the trains used to haul iron ore along the 760km rail network that links its Pilbara mines to Port Hedland on the coast of Western Australia, from where it is shipped to global markets. One of these designs seeks to harness gravitational energy as trains descend 400 metres in altitude on their journey from the mine sites to the coast. Currently, diesel trains apply their brakes on the descent 'and you get rid of all that energy through huge toasters and resistors', says Otranto. 'It's very, very inefficient.' Fortescue has dealt with this problem by developing motors that harvest energy during the descent, then release the charge when trains make their way back up to the mine. This regenerating battery technology is just one of the technical innovations that Fortescue has developed within impressively short timelines. It is also using ammonia-powered trains, while its latest prototype for a green electric design went from 'nothing to production-ready in nine months', says Otranto. 'I think sometimes people misunderstand what we really are pulling off here, and that's why so many people just doubt that we're actually doing it,' says Otranto. 'Well, I open the door to competition, suppliers: I want them to see that it is possible. This is the right thing to do.' Fortescue's ambitions are unmatched within the industry, but it is far from the only mining company making progress towards reducing emissions. Across the world, many mine sites – which are often in remote areas, disconnected from national electricity grids – are finding that it makes financial sense to install solar power or other forms of renewable energy as an alternative to diesel generators. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, the Kamoa Copper mine, the largest copper mining complex in Africa, announced in early April that it will procure baseload power from a solar and storage system to be built and operated by renewable energy developer CrossBoundary Energy. Kamoa will not incur an upfront cost, instead paying for the electricity it receives over the course of its contract with CrossBoundary. The deal is set to reduce the mine's carbon emissions by around 78,750 tonnes per year. 'Where this project is exceptionally exciting is that this is a baseload renewable energy solution,' says Matthew Tilleard, managing partner at CrossBoundary Energy. The baseload characteristic is achieved by building a system that he concedes is 'in some ways massively oversized'. The company will build a 222 megawatt (MW) solar array and a massive battery system to guarantee 30 MW of baseload power. 'But what that means is we're delivering reliable power, baseload power, that's completely carbon-free at a price that is cheaper than diesel.' Indeed, it is the economics of off-grid renewable energy that make these systems attractive to mining companies. 'You don't have to believe in climate change,' says Tilleard. 'This is cheaper.' Technology is also advancing around mining trucks. There are around 28,000 of these gargantuan and highly specialised vehicles operating around the world, emitting around 69 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The International Council on Mining and Metals, the industry organisation that represents 24 of the world's largest mining companies, is running an initiative to find ways to reduce emissions from trucks. Mining companies are partnering with equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar, Komatsu and Sandvik in the initiative. 'Since we started that programme in 2018, we have seen significant progress,' says Bryony Clear Hill, the ICMM's director of innovation. 'We're now estimating that we'll have zero-emission vehicles at scale by 2030, which is a full 10 years ahead of the best estimates when we started the programme.' Clear Hill adds that there will be no 'one size fits all' solution to decarbonising mining vehicles. Battery electric technology does appear to have the most momentum, however, with several prototypes already being tested. Despite the visible progress being made around the world, the pace of decarbonisation is highly uneven across the industry. This is partly because every mine site is different: the feasibility of installing zero-emissions solutions such as solar or wind power depends on highly localised conditions, as well as the availability of land. Much also depends on government support. A mine that is grid-connected will not be able to decarbonise if the grid is dependent on fossil fuel power, for example. Government policies to enable mining companies to sign power-purchase agreements with private electricity suppliers are also key. 'There's this broader ecosystem of enablers that needs to be in place to support mining, to be able to reduce at scale, at pace, so that we can be able to supply those critical minerals,' says Hayley Zipp, director of the environment programme at the ICCM. 'If you've got weak access to power-purchasing agreements and independent power producers, that's really going to slow you down.' Gregoire Bellois is a senior policy advisor at the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development. He says that mining companies display varying levels of commitment around decarbonisation. Some larger companies are making 'real progress', he says. Others achieve decarbonisation only 'on paper', simply by divesting their highest-emitting mines. Most Chinese companies are 'really, very early in this process', Bellois adds. Chinese firms are increasingly dominant in certain strategic mineral supply chains; Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimates that Chinese companies will control 46% of the world's cobalt supply by 2030. Though Bellois says some have shown interest in reducing their carbon footprint, 'currently, they don't see why they should do it. They have no requirement to do it. So, they don't do it.' One development that could have worldwide effects is the European Union's proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. If implemented, CBAM would impose a levy on carbon-intensive companies that export into the EU market. 'In theory, it's a really good tool,' says Bellois. But he warns there could be 'perverse effects', in that many producers will effectively be excluded from the European market, and will instead simply redirect exports towards customers in China. While Bellois believes some mining companies can decarbonise, he is sceptical that the entire industry can make it even to 'net' zero by 2050, let alone the 'real' zero championed by Fortescue. Yet, given the significant acceleration in the production of many types of minerals, action is vital. 'We expect to mine in the next 30 years more than what we mined over the whole history of humanity,' says Bellois. 'Every effort to try to limit the amount of what is emitted would be a net win.'
Times
30-04-2025
- Business
- Times
Tony Blair calls for reset of ‘irrational' net-zero policies in Labour clash
Sir Tony Blair has warned there needs to be a radical reset of 'irrational' net-zero policies because they are 'doomed to fail'. The former prime minister said that voters were being asked to make 'financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle' that would have 'minimal' effect on global emissions. Blair said that attempts to phase out fossil fuels in the short term were 'doomed to fail', arguing that the 'inconvenient facts' were that the production and demand for them was rising. He argued that a backlash against climate change policies threatened to 'derail the whole agenda', in the latest sign that the mainstream consensus on green policies is collapsing. Blair's intervention, days before the local elections, was met with anger in government as it could bolster opposition parties. Reform and the Conservatives have criticised the government's net-zero policies. However, there are also concerns Labour will lose votes to the Greens. One Labour source said that Blair's intervention was a 'public tantrum' and was 'really unhelpful'. They pointed to the fact that Blair's organisation, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has advised the government of Saudi Arabia. The boss of Britain's publicly-owned energy company rejected Blair's suggestion of a reset on climate change policy, warning that it would be 'deeply unhelpful'. Dan McGrail, interim chief executive of Great British Energy, said the UK's climate policy framework gave private investors in the energy sector a stable environment compared with other countries. 'When you think about that, resets, stops, massive changes or 180-degree changes in strategy are deeply unhelpful,' he said at the Innovation Zero conference in London. An ally of Sir Keir Starmer said: 'Keir has been consistently clear that he sees net zero as one of the key growth opportunities for the British economy, which is why it was in the manifesto that helped deliver the biggest gain of Labour seats in a general election since 1945.' Blair has become the most senior Labour figure to question the approach to net zero, which he says 'isn't working'. His use of the term 'inconvenient facts' undermining green policies is a reference to Al Gore, the former US vice-president, who referred to climate change as an 'inconvenient truth'. Blair's comments came a day after Spain and Portugal were hit with nationwide power cuts. Downing Street dismissed suggestions that a reliance on renewable power was behind the blackout, after Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said it was likely to be the cause. Starmer put net zero at the heart of Labour's manifesto, pledging to ensure that 95 per cent of the UK's electricity would be from green sources by 2030. The government has also said that it will ban new North Sea oil and gas exploration licences, a move that is opposed by the unions. However, the prime minister has signalled a change in direction in recent months, pushing ahead with plans for a third runway at Heathrow and delaying plans to ban the sale of hybrid cars in 2030. • In a foreword to a report from his think tank, Blair said that climate 'activists' have successfully brought the issue into the mainstream, but policies adopted in response to their pressure 'are distorting the debate into a quest for a climate platform that is unrealistic and therefore unworkable'. Blair wrote: 'Political leaders by and large know that the debate has become irrational. But they're terrified of saying so, for fear of being accused of being 'climate deniers'.' He urged politicians to shift to 'pragmatic' polices that focus on harnessing technology to deal with emissions, such as turbocharging carbon capture and storage. Blair said that airline travel was set to double globally over the next 20 years, while urbanisation was expected to contribute to a 40 per cent increase in demand for steel and a 50 per cent increase for cement. He pointed out that two thirds of global emissions would come from China, India and southeast Asia by the end of the decade, while China's increase in emissions last year was bigger than Britain's total carbon dioxide output. Blair wrote: 'People know that the current state of debate over climate change is riven with irrationality. As a result, though most people will accept that climate change is a reality caused by human activity, they're turning away from the politics of the issue because they believe the proposed solutions are not founded on good policy. 'In developed countries, voters feel they're being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal. Whatever the historical responsibility of the developed world for climate change, those with even a cursory knowledge of the facts understand that in the future the major sources of pollution will come.' Blair said carbon capture should be 'at the centre of the battle' and there should be a greater focus on funnelling research and money into the technology. He added: 'The disdain for this technology in favour of the purist solution of stopping fossil-fuel production is totally misguided principally from the developing world.' While Starmer has promised £22 billion for research into carbon capture technology, it is not expected to be operational at scale until the 2030s. Britain and other countries also needed to put greater emphasis on adapting to a changing climate. Blair said that mitigation measures must not be 'the poor relation of climate action because it seems to accept that some climate change is inevitable'.
Sky News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Politics latest: Yvette Cooper says government 'reviewing' how courts interpret ECHR
Good morning! Welcome back to the Politics Hub this Tuesday, 29 April. Of course, it isn't any old Tuesday - it's two days before the local elections take place across the country on 1 May. That means things are heating up in Westminster as parties face their first big test since last year's general election. More on that in a moment, but first: the story the government hopes will grab the headlines with this morning is their changes to the rules around who can seek asylum in the UK. Foreign nationals who have committed sex offences will be denied refugee status in a shake up of the law. It's in an effort to improve women's safety and is also the government's attempt to look tough on immigration. We'll hear from Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, about this on Sky News shortly. But there are questions about just how many people will actually be affected, while the Conservatives say Labour are "not serious" about tackling immigration unless they move to remove all foreign criminals and disapply the Human Rights Act. It comes as the number of people who have arrived in the UK illegally on small boats so far this year hit 10,000 yesterday - the earliest this figure has been reached since records began in 2018. Away from immigration, the Northern Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap are battling to avoid being cancelled after they were filmed allegedly calling for people to kill their local MPs. Both Kemi Badenoch and the PM's spokesperson have condemned the group, and there are calls for them to be dropped from festival line-ups. Now, the band has responded - saying they would never incite violence and say footage is being "exploited and weaponised". Back in London, there's a fair few things going on. Farmers are holding a protest (again) this afternoon and promise a vintage spectacle, as they call for better protections. Notable speakers will include former minister James Cleverly. Meanwhile, the UK's largest sustainability conference, Innovation Zero, kicks off. And in Whitehall, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is meeting his Indian counterpart as trade talks between the two countries continue. And finally, in today's game of Where's Wally, campaigning for the local election continues. You can find Kemi Badenoch in Wiltshire, Sir Ed Davey in South Cambridgeshire and the Green's Zack Polanski in Aylesbury Vale. Coming up on Sky News shortly: 7.15am - Yvette Cooper, home secretary 8.15am - Matt Vickers, shadow Home Office minister Stay with us for all of the latest updates in the world of Westminster Politics.
