The world’s largest mining company BHP quietly shelved billions of dollars of green projects at its iron ore mines in Western Australia. The company announced climate action was “urgent” and that delays could have “reputational impacts” but hundreds of pages of internal BHP documents exclusively obtained by Four Corners and Guardian Australia suggest a shift.
The leaked documents reveal how the company sought to publicly position itself as a climate leader while internally finding reasons to put off action.
The documents focus on BHP’s operations in the Pilbara, which made $US14.4 billion ($22 billion) in pre-tax profits last year and helped make BHP the world’s largest miner.
Its iron ore operations in WA account for more than a third of BHP’s Australian emissions.
The investigation exposes how BHP’s 2050 net zero commitments are unlikely to be reached despite publicly pledging to switch to green energy.
BHP says they are committed to reaching net zero by 2050.