{"id":1179765,"date":"2020-04-22T05:43:33","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T10:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1021262"},"modified":"2020-04-22T05:43:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T10:43:33","slug":"emissions-to-drop-6-this-year-due-to-pandemic-wont-fix-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1179765","title":{"rendered":"Emissions to drop 6% this year due to pandemic, won\u2019t fix climate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Greenhouse emissions are expected to fall by 6% this year due to a global slowdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) <a href=\"https:\/\/public.wmo.int\/en\/media\/press-release\/earth-day-highlights-climate-action\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said on Wednesday<\/a>, but that would not be enough to stop climate change.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The forecast drop comes as transportation<br \/>\nand industrial energy production has come almost to a halt globally, and it<br \/>\nwould be the biggest annual decline since World War II. <\/p>\n<p>In the past, however, emissions levels<br \/>\nhave grown to higher level once the crises have been over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExtreme weather has increased, and it will not go away because of the coronavirus. On the contrary, the pandemic exacerbates the challenge of evacuating people and keeping them safe from tropical cyclones, as we saw with Category-5 strength Harold in the South Pacific,\u201d WMO\u2019s General Secretary, Petteri Taalas, said <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"in a statement (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/public.wmo.int\/en\/media\/press-release\/earth-day-highlights-climate-action\" >in a statement<\/a> released on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd there is a risk that over-stretched health systems may not be able to cope with an additional burden of patients due to, for example, heatwaves,\u201d Taalas noted.<\/p>\n<p>The mining and metals sector has<br \/>\nbeen facing greater scrutiny from communities at host countries, end consumers<br \/>\nand society at large, demanding transparent, ethical supply chains, as well as<br \/>\na lower carbon footprint.<\/p>\n<p>Particular attention is being paid to how companies are addressing issues such as climate change, water management, health and safety, and the fair treatment of workers and communities.<\/p>\n<p>Investing in environmental, social and governance (ESG) is currently estimated at over $20 trillion in assets under management, and those numbers are only expected to grow. Companies that fail to deliver value beyond compliance could face financial consequences and a blow to their reputations.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Miners step up to the plate<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Most top miners are well aware of<br \/>\nthe need for change, and have already kicked off company-wide initiatives. BHP<br \/>\n(ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) recently&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/bhp-says-social-value-to-be-key-aspect-of-its-business-planning\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">committed $400 million over five years<\/a>&nbsp;to reduce<br \/>\ngreenhouse gas emissions from its operations and mined commodities.<\/p>\n<p>The miner, the world\u2019s largest, has<br \/>\npromised to reduce its Scope 3 emissions (those generated by end users), an<br \/>\nimportant consideration given it is the top exporter of coking coal used in the<br \/>\nsteelmaking and number three in iron ore, the raw material for steel.<\/p>\n<p>Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO), the world\u2019s second-largest mining company, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/rio-tintos-1bn-spend-to-reach-zero-emissions-not-enough-analysts\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">vowed to spend $1 billion<\/a> over the next five years to reduce its carbon footprint and have \u201cnet zero\u201d greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/scope3emissionsreductions-miningindustry-1024x676.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1021265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/scope3emissionsreductions-miningindustry.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/scope3emissionsreductions-miningindustry-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/scope3emissionsreductions-miningindustry-768x507.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>The company also said its total<br \/>\nScope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (indirect&nbsp;emissions&nbsp;from the generation<br \/>\nof purchased energy consumed by a company, such as electricity) would be 15%<br \/>\nlower by 2030 than 2018 levels.<\/p>\n<p>The no emissions goal would be<br \/>\neasier to achieve for Rio than other global miners, such as rival BHP because<br \/>\nit does not mine coal or oil.<\/p>\n<p>The company, however, has not set a target to reduce so-called \u201cScope 3\u201d emissions \u2014 those \u00a0produced when customers burn or process a company\u2019s raw materials \u2014 which has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/rio-tinto-emission-targets-has-investors-green-groups-up-in-arms\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"triggered the ire of investors and green groups (opens in a new tab)\">triggered the ire of investors and green groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As of early 2020, roughly 800<br \/>\nfinancial services organizations with $118 trillion in assets under management<br \/>\nhave committed to making climate-risk disclosures about their portfolio<br \/>\ninvestments. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite the business case in support of decarbonization, many mining companies continue to see it as a cost rather than an opportunity \u2014 making it difficult for proponents to unlock the capital required to move forward,\u201d Tim Biggs, Mining &amp; Metals Leader, Deloitte UK, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/featured-article\/social-investors-emissions-reduction-efforts-to-shape-minings-short-term-future-report\/\" >told MINING.COM in February<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cA massive shift toward electrification could also change the way employees work, requiring companies to obtain buy-in not only at the management level, but at the operations level,\u201d Biggs said.<\/p>\n<p>The sector leaders are already setting<br \/>\nan example in terms of switching to renewables.<\/p>\n<p>BHP estimates deals announced last<br \/>\nyear to switch two giant copper mines in Chile to solar, wind and hydro sources<br \/>\nin place of existing coal and gas power will cut energy costs by about 20%.<\/p>\n<p>Anglo American (LON:AAL), which<br \/>\nhas&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/floating-solar-panels-boost-efficiency-chilean-copper-mine\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">installed floating solar panels<\/a>&nbsp;on a copper mine\u2019s<br \/>\nwaste pond, has said that renewable energy will help deliver cheaper mining<br \/>\noperations.<\/p>\n<p>Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG)<br \/>\nrecently flagged potential savings from new investments to switch mines to<br \/>\nrenewable energy as it expands a $700 million program to add transmission<br \/>\nlines, solar arrays and battery storage in Australia\u2019s Pilbara region.<\/p>\n<p>Those and other actions helped<br \/>\nrenewables to officially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/renewables-overtake-coal-fired-power-generation-for-first-time\/\">overtake<br \/>\ncoal as a source of electricity generation<\/a> last year, according to the International<br \/>\nEnergy Agency (IEA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Meteorological Organization says the forecast comes as covid-19 has brought transportation and industrial energy production almost to a complete halt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179765"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1179765"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1179870,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179765\/revisions\/1179870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1179765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1179765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1179765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}