Anglo American set 2040 carbon-neutrality targets

Anglo American has set themselves a target to be completely net-neutral by 2040, with the capabilities for some operations to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

The news came as a part of the company's annual sustainability report held at the end of October.

On the company's agenda include transitioning every aspect of their mining portfolio, reducing their energy consumption and intensity and increased use of renewable energy in everyday operations.

The company reports they met their 2020 emissions target, reducing their carbon footprint by 22%.

They hope to use 100% renewable energy in Chile in 2021, Brazil by 2022 and they are due to trial on green hydrogen fuel-cell powered trucks in South Africa beginning next year.

Anglo American's underlying principle is reducing the amount of carbon that enters the atmosphere.

Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said: “We have long understood the inextricable link between our sustainability performance and our financial performance and ability to generate returns. A sustainable business comes from being a purposeful business: competitive, resilient and agile – a business that thrives through economic and social cycles – of course, underpinned by non-negotiable values.

“Sustainability lives at the very heart of our strategy, not as an adjacent activity, but embedded in how we do our work. Much of what we are driving for, particularly in terms of our energy and water ambitions, will be achieved through the technologies we are implementing. Our Sustainable Mining Plan that we developed in 2017, and that we structured to drive environmental, social and governance performance, is part of the transformation of our business and is designed to deliver value to all our stakeholders.

“Tackling climate change is the defining challenge of our times. We have set ourselves an ambitious goal of carbon neutrality across our operations by 2040, with eight of our assets to get there by 2030. Our underlying principle is to reduce carbon going into the atmosphere and we have clear pathways."

The sustainability update was originally scheduled for April but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Anglo American's approach to environmental standards may be considered hypocritical by some.

The week before the conference, the miners made headlines owing to a class-action lawsuit being filed against them by Leigh Day, a British law firm owing to decades of pollution from a mine in Kabwe, Zambia. 

The suit is one of many controversies the mining industry has faced this year.

Campaign groups have warned against the environmental effects of industrial mining, from pollution to transferring dust into the atmosphere.

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