Australia’s peak mining industry body has joined the fight on climate. The Minerals Council of Australia won’t ditch coal but it has yielded to pressure from lobby groups that have stormed the world’s boardrooms and financial markets pushing for a shareholder revolt on fossil fuels.
They have forced the MCA to be outspoken in its support for cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
At the height of a campaign against it by climate groups, the MCA risked losing some of its biggest members, including miners like Rio Tinto and BHP.
In the end, it was council chief executive Brendan Pearson who had to go.
The MCA’s new CEO, Tania Constable, has spent the past two years negotiating a climate change action plan for the industry group that includes Australia’s top 10 coal producers. The plan backs the federal government’s approach for technology-led solutions. It sets an aspiration for the industry to become carbon-neutral but unlike the Business Council, puts no timetable on when this should be achieved.
Ms Constable rejects that it is an exercise in greenwashing to provide cover for MCA members, yet it remains to be seen whether the plan will wash with green lobbyists.
The MCA was listed by a UK-based group as one of the top 10 global associations blocking action on climate change.
Ms Constable said the tag was based on old assumptions but as financial markets and corporate reputations become a new frontline in pressure for climate action, the MCA was keen to show it cared. “There certainly has been a political activism pressure applied to investors to leave the council but the Minerals Council hasn’t been the only council they cited,” she said.
“It (the climate plan) is not something we developed because activists put pressure on investors. It has always been part of our plan because it makes good business sense.”
Responsible mining must lead to greater competitiveness at a global level. “Senior executives have alway regarded pragmatic and effective climate change measures as an economic opportunity for them,” Ms Constable said.
She said the MCA had always accepted the science of climate change but was now “taking practical action to make sure we are decarbonising our industry over time”.
“We support the Paris Agreement and part of that is making sure we are decarbonising as quickly as we can,” she said.
The failure to nominate a date for the industry to become carbon-neutral reflects a diversity of opinion among MCA members and international groups.
The Paris Agreement as it stands calls for carbon neutrality in the second half of this century.
Momentum is building for this to be changed to 2050, a date already adopted by some countries.
Some of the world’s biggest companies plan to be carbon-neutral by 2040.
Ms Constable said MCA members could set whatever date was appropriate for them.
Minerals Council member are responsible for 80 per cent of Australia’s mining output. They include the 10 biggest coal companies as well as base metals, zinc, copper, lead, gold, new metals and minerals such as lithium, rare earths and minerals sands. “If you think what might be on a periodic table in terms of minerals, they all sit within our membership,” Ms Constable said.
The climate action plan does not mean it is ditching support for coal. “We support coalmining,” she said. “We have strong (coal) exports, particularly into the Asian region. We have 50,000 direct employees on the east coast in coal and hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs that benefit from the coal industry.’’
The Minerals Council said it supported technologies that helped the coal industry reduce emissions. It said technologies existed today to reduce emissions from the production and combustion of coal.
“With carbon capture and storage coupled with offsets and international abatement units, it is possible for the coal industry to get to zero emissions,” Ms Constable said.
The MCA believes there is a case for some of Australia’s current coal assets to be upgraded, including the addition of carbon capture and storage.
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