Climate change is a key challenge of our era. We recognise the need to take meaningful action towards addressing its causes, and to help protect our employees, assets, as well as the communities and environments linked to our operations, against its potential impacts.
COP17 is the 17th session of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The conference is being hosted in December in Durban, South Africa, and Anglo American – as a company that has been part of South Africa
for almost 95 years – is proud to be playing an active
role in proceedings.
These climate change talks are a major international event and will be attended by senior representatives of governments from around the world, business and civil society. These are the only negotiations aimed at reducing global reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Kyoto Protocol, signed in Japan in 1997, which commits countries to reducing their GHGs, expires in 2012 and there is currently no replacement treaty or second commitment period. COP17 is therefore a last opportunity to develop a legally binding agreement.
Why is Anglo American involved?
It is important for us to be at the table. Not only do we recognise the challenge posed by climate change, but we are taking action to address its causes and protect our employees, assets and communities from its impacts. We want to be part of the debate about how to solve this global issue. We believe better solutions come out of collaborative discussions, and we want to work in partnership with governments and NGOs to develop the best outcomes for the broadest cross-section of stakeholders.
We have been operating in – and positively contributing to – South Africa, both in economic and social terms for 94 years. Given our large developing country footprint, we want to see policies that recognise the stage of a country’s development and reinforce its developmental priorities, in particular alleviating poverty, enabling economic progress and access to energy.
What we’re doing
We are committed to enabling our operations and local communities to address and adapt to the causes and effects of climate change.
The world will continue to demand the commodities we produce and the low carbon economy cannot exist without metals. Coal is an important part of the energy mix and it will continue to drive the economic and social progress of much of the developing world – and several parts of the developed world – for the foreseeable future. The challenge is to make the production and use of the commodities we produce more sustainable.
We have set a goal of achieving the maximum economically sustainable energy and carbon saving in our business and in the use of our products. Our climate change strategy has three focus areas: operational excellence, exploiting technologies and engagement and partnerships. Effective delivery of this ten-year strategy will deliver carbon and energy savings. It will yield a clear assessment of risks and opportunities in the markets in which we operate, with action plans in place to mitigate those risks and deliver shared value.