Mining leaders have called for the sector to adopt a more pragmatic approach to decarbonisation as Australia targets carbon neutrality by 2050.
Mining leaders have called for the sector to adopt a more pragmatic approach to decarbonisation as Australia targets carbon neutrality by 2050.
In a keynote panel at this year’s Future of Mining Conference, executives from Sandfire Resources and Australian Strategic Materials joined leaders from the Minerals Council and Edith Cowan University to debate whether Australia’s net-zero targets were already out of reach.
“No one should really underestimate the challenges to get to such an ambitious target,” said Minerals Council executive director David Parker.
“It’s a truly national effort. You want to ensure that every sector is pulling their weight.”
Mr Parker said Australia was “behind the eight ball” when it came to innovation, especially on the topic of technology neutrality.
“We host a very substantial uranium resource here in Australia, but we’re lagging behind on technology like microreactors, especially compared to other tier-one jurisdictions like Canada,” he said.
“Here we are as an AUKUS participant with a military nuclear program, but no civilian nuclear program.”
To bridge the gap, Mr Parker said there needed to be more focus on decoupling regulation in mining, especially between Australia’s state and federal governments.
“It’s a 27-million-person economy: We don’t need to be overregulated to the extent that we are,” he added.
The panel’s call for pragmatism come days after Hancock chair Gina Rinehart lashed out at Australia’s net zero ambitions, alleging that “trillions of taxpayers and shareholders money was being wasted on net zero”.
“Chasing the unobtainable and expensive magic pudding that net zero is will negatively impact our way of life for generations to come," Mrs Rinehart said in a statement on Wednesday.
When asked about Mrs Rinehart’s comments, Sandfire’s head of sustainability, Tzila Katzel, said there were some important facts to consider.
“Australia produces less than 2% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.
“I think sometimes we are too emotive when we put the targets in place — it can be a knee-jerk reaction.”
“I would love to see [the conversation shift] to ‘how can we achieve abatement at pace, but also at the lowest cost?’”
Australian Strategic Materials’ vice president of risk and corporate services, Agata Carrabs, said mining companies of every size were facing the same core challenges in the push to net-zero.
“Ambition is important, but so is the pathway and how we get there,” she said.
“For junior projects like ours, some of the biggest risks we face include grid constraints, energy pricing and project approval delays.”
Going forward, Ms Carrabs challenged the mining majors to drive the conversation around decarbonisation.
“We’re not going to be first movers in this,” she told the panel.
“We’re waiting for the big end of town to push the agenda.”
“Ultimately, we need policy support, investment stability and the right infrastructure and technologies to make net-zero happen.”
