Dr Niels Leemput, ENGIE Impact, Australia, outlines the four main strategies that mines can implement in order to set and attain achievable carbon goals.
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he mining sector is under a lot of pressure from multiple driving forces to decarbonise and reduce emissions. As more organisations publicly announce sustainability efforts, there is a growing interest from investors, employees, and customers to reach carbon targets quickly and gain a competitive advantage. There are also operational risks to consider, with increasing energy intensity at mining sites, and of course the potential impacts of more extreme and more frequent climate events. Even mining longevity can be a concern – in an industry that is often thought of as ‘outdated’, it can be challenging to recruit top talent, which will be critical in order for these organisations to transform and innovate. The lower mining organisations prioritise sustainability transformation and decarbonisation efforts, the less resilient they will be to all these risks. However, there are unique challenges to decarbonising an emission-heavy industry such as the mining sector, and duality on the stakeholder side has prevented companies within this
sector from achieving net zero, as economical carbonisation solutions are limited. As a result, miners want to implement green initiatives within the industry, but struggle to unlock sustainability at an exceptional price point. There has been progress within the sector – many organisations have already begun actively working with clients to find low-carbon alternatives. As mining organisations look to make strides towards reducing carbon footprints, here are four main strategies that could be implemented to help mines set and attain achievable carbon goals.
Build an achievable and flexible net-zero roadmap The main challenge when establishing a path to net-zero is developing a roadmap that aligns with the company’s unique situation and sustainability goals. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to net-zero – there are often infinite paths to reaching carbon targets, and certain paths are more complex than others.
global mining review // September 2021
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