Mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest to quit fossil fuels by 2030

Australia’s second richest man, mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest will spend billions by the end of the decade on an ambitious goal.

Australia’s second richest man Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has unveiled a radical $9.2bn plan to quit fossil fuels and decarbonise his mining empire by the end of the decade.

In what the mining magnate says is the “most significant announcement” he has made since starting Fortescue, the world’s fourth largest iron producer will be completely green by 2030.

Fortescue informed the market of its renewable-powered revolution on Tuesday while Mr Forrest briefed captains of industry and world leaders in New York at the start of Climate Week, which runs alongside the high-powered United Nations General Assembly.

Speaking to News Corp, Mr Forrest said he wanted the mining industry to transition from the laggard to the world leader on reducing carbon emissions.

He said Fortescue’s massive investment would be offset by savings from the company permanently tearing up its fossil fuel bills.

“We waste between USD$2.7bn and USD$3bn per year, smoked up in the air. We don’t see that again,” Mr Forrest said.

Going green.... Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest.

“Now we can invest US$6.2bn and we have hard assets on the ground which can see us producing our own energy forever. It’s really not a hard calculation.”

“This is now a light on the hill for every manufacturing or heavy industry company in the world to realise you can go green.”

Fortescue has spent about $1bn over the past seven years to identify the technology required to end its reliance on fossil fuels.

The company’s new investment includes up to three gigawatts of renewable energy and battery storage, as well as the rollout of a green mining fleet and the world-first electric Infinity Train developed with Williams, the company behind the Formula One team.

“We know where to go for that technology now because it’s in-house,” Mr Forrest said.

It will enable the company to stop using 700 million litres of diesel per year by 2030 and means Fortescue will avoid three million tonnes of carbon emissions annually – the equivalent of taking almost 650,000 cars off the road.

Forrest says the world’s fourth largest iron producer will be completely green by 2030.

“This should have been done ages ago. You scratch your head and wonder why, when you see the simplicity that Fortescue’s applied to all its elimination of fossil fuel,” Mr Forrest said.

“We know why everyone is hanging back, to let someone else make the mistakes.”

He said he had offered a personal “how-to” guide on Fortescue’s decarbonisation to his industry rivals in a bid to encourage them to follow suit and end the “climate change wars”.

Mr Forrest said the move would improve Fortescue’s operating costs by 50 cents per share and deliver net operating savings of US$818m per year from 2030.

Fortescue Future Industries chief Mark Hutchinson said no carbon offsets would be required for the company to decarbonise, promising they would achieve “real zero”.

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