The gold mining industry must ramp up its use of renewable energy in order to meet the Paris Climate Agreement's 1.5C climate change targets, a new report from the World Gold Council (WGC) has found.
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The 'Gold and Climate Change: The Energy Transition' report, which was released on Wednesday, looks at the gold mining sectors energy transition and climate impacts over the next decade.
It is based on research conducted at 158 gold mines collected by research group Wood Mackenzie. The report excludes data from China owing to a lack of transparent data.
These mines account for 55% of known global data on the gold mining industry,
The report hints current trends and known emissions plans for gold sector players means emissions should drop 25% by 2030. This fall is primarily attributed to the decarbonisation of grid-sourced electricity and plans to replace fossil fuel usage for direct site-generated fuels and switching them to grid-powered renewable sources.
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The data suggests total sector emissions need to be reduced by 80% by 2050 to reduce their total emissions into the 2C category as defined by the Paris Climate Agreement as being "well-below" emissions targets or by 92% by 2040 to reach the 1.5C target.
The WGC found that if current plans to transition to lower carbon power sources become more commonplace across the sector over the next decade, emissions could drop by another 9% by 2030.
Accelerating and expanding these actions will make the Paris Climate targets achievable, the report states. The replacement of 20% of the power supply from both grid and direct fossil fuels should support industry alignment with the 1.5C target.
As renewables continue to become more sustainable, cheaper and economically viable, the report indicates the industry should follow suit in their total adoption in a move to decarbonise the industry to its fullest extent.
Local and national factors will play an important role in company adoption of renewable energies, not least given the different legislative rules and environmental policy that govern the use of certain power sources in different jurisdictions.
John Mulligan, director of climate change at the WGC, said: “Companies need to demonstrate action and awareness of the need to decarbonize their operations at the mine site."
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