BHP Chair says growth aspirations will increase emissions “dramatically” over the next few years

BHP Chair Ross McEwan has rejected a shareholder request to commit to a company-wide 2040 operational emissions reduction target. That leaves the company with no operational emissions target between 2030 and net zero in 2050.

Responding to ACCR Co-CEO Brynn O’Brien at Brandon Craig’s first AGM as CEO, Mr McEwan said: “The answer is no… We have very big growth aspirations coming through which means we actually have to increase the amount of emissions coming out dramatically over that next few years.”

Describing BHP’s 2050 goal as its “guiding light”, Mr McEwan asked shareholders to “just leave us for the next couple of years to get to where we need to be in 2030 with our eyes on 2050”. BHP would then assess where to take the organisation next, he said, and shareholders should not mistake the lack of a 2040 target for a lack of ambition.

In her prepared remarks to the AGM, Ms O’Brien said:

“Yes, BHP deserves recognition for effectively achieving its 2030 operational emissions target. But it does leave us in a rather striking position: the world’s largest mining company – whose investors well understand the global decarbonisation imperative – has no further decarbonisation target. The next company-wide operational emissions ‘goal’ is net zero in 2050.

“Over the course of this year, ACCR has engaged with more than 50 of BHP’s major shareholders, and we know there is real concern about what happens beyond 2030.

“Twenty years is a long time, even by mining-industry standards. We all know that the decisions that will determine BHP’s emissions in the 2030s are being made now, through choices about capital allocation, fleet replacement and infrastructure.

“BHP has already shown that targets can help drive progress. Your shareholders are paying attention, increasingly so. A 2040 target would give them confidence that the Board is actively governing the next phase of BHP’s transition, rather than asking them to make a generational leap from 2030 to 2050.

“The 2030 target was set under Mr Craig’s predecessor. A new CEO is the natural moment to set the next one, and the 2040 target will be set on his watch. Many of the investors we’ve spoken to this year would welcome that commitment.

“After ten years of these conversations, Chair, today I have a very simple, reasonable request, which I know will enjoy wide shareholder support: will you commit today to BHP setting a company-wide 2040 operational emissions reduction target within the next 12 months?”