Energy Shocks to Slow Climate Action, Says BHP Executive

Ongoing energy disruptions will set back efforts to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as nations prioritize supply security, according to one of the most senior executives at the world’s top mining company, BHP Group, Paul-Alain Hunt and David Stringer reported for Bloomberg News.

BHP is switching some large sites to renewable energy and deploying electric equipment, including giant haul trucks. (Photo: Samuel Wiki, Wikimedia Commons) 

“Geopolitical fragmentation has repositioned resources and energy from traded commodities into instruments of national power,” Geraldine Slattery, president of BHP’s Australian operations, said in a speech in Canberra.

“Resource and energy security and affordability have overtaken supply chain decarbonization as the dominant policy priority in many major economies.”

That shift has “real implications for investment decisions, and for the pace and pathways of decarbonization,” Slattery added.

Volatility across oil and gas markets as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, along with a squeeze on tanker traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz, has prompted some nations to cap fuel exports and others in Asia to turn back to coal.

While there is evidence of consumers adopting electric cars, solar systems, and other green technologies to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, major industries face a far more difficult transition.

Melbourne-based BHP, which has cut operational emissions by more than a third from a fiscal 2020 baseline, is switching some large sites to renewable energy and deploying electric equipment, including giant haul trucks.