Graph showing Anglo American's energy consumptionReducing our GHG emissions
In 2011, the Group’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions amounted to 18.8 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) (2010: 20.0 Mt). This 6% reduction on our 2010 emissions was due largely to the sale of a number of businesses throughout 2011, as well as a revision of process emission calculation methodologies at Metallurgical Coal.
Our electricity consumption continues to be the principal source of our GHG emissions (51%), followed by our direct use of fossil fuels (23%), methane emissions from coal mining (14%) and process emissions (12%).
Energy consumption
During 2011, Anglo American consumed 102.9 million gigajoules (GJ) of energy (2010: 100.9 million GJ). This 2% rise was largely as a consequence of new energy being consumed at the Barro Alto plant and additional diesel consumption at Metallurgical Coal arising from increased production.
In Australia, our primary alternative energy projects are the methane-fired power stations at the Moranbah North and Capcoal collieries; these generate a combined 77 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Despite experiencing some geological and weather-related setbacks in 2011, the New Denmark coal mine methane-flaring project flared 402 tonnes of CO2e in 2011 and reduced the mine’s total CO2e emissions by 1.3% against a business-as-usual baseline.
Adaption
Our new climate change strategy requires that all operations and projects undertake climate change vulnerability assessments, following which all high-risk sites will undergo detailed climate change impact assessments. This follows detailed assessments conducted by Imperial College, London and the UK Met Office, in 2010 and 2011, on the potential impacts of climate change in a number of potentially high-risk operational regions.
This builds on a three year climate change impact assessment study for selected operations which was carried out by Imperial College, London.
Driving efficiency
Improving energy efficiency is a core element of Anglo American’s response to climate change, as well as an economic value driver for the business because of the increasing cost of energy and concerns related to the security of electrical energy supplies. The bulk of the Group’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (51%) are generated through the electricity we purchase. The majority of this is coal-fired, which is why we will continue to drive efficiency gains in electrical power usage through asset optimisation and continuous-improvement programmes.
In 2004, we set a target to reduce our energy intensity by 15% by 2014 based on a 2004 baseline. All of our operations are involved in a considerable number of energy efficiency projects focused on optimising processes, technology and behaviour.