Fortescue Metals Group will invest $A9.2 billion to decarbonise its mining operations, and eliminate fossil fuel use, by 2030.
The Australian listed company, founded by Executive Chairman Andrew Forest, brought-forward, from 2040, its target to eliminate its fossil fuel risk profile.
The plan covers only its scope 1 and 2 emissions, meaning it can offer customers a carbon free product. However, there’s still likely to be major scope 3 emissions as their customers smelt the iron ore to make steel.
But even here, they’re making gains, with Fortescue working on electrolyzer technology to produce green hydrogen that has the potential to replace coal in the steel production process.
“Fortescue, FFI and FMG, is moving at speed to transition into a global green metals, minerals, energy and technology Company, capable of delivering not just green iron ore but also the minerals, knowledge and technology critical to the energy transition.” Says Andrew Forrest.
The plan will involve installing a further 2-3GW of wind and solar generation and battery storage, as well as building a green mining fleet of trucks and locomotives that generate enough electricity going downhill, to lug the ore back uphill.
The miner is currently heavily reliant on diesel and gas, but the plan hopes to avoid 3 million tonnes of CO2e emissions each year, reducing diesel usage by 700M litres per year.
The models suggest cost savings of $US818M per year, with payback of capital by 2034.
To keep the project inline with Paris aligned targets, Fortescue will use the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to verify and audit its emissions reduction.