This co-authored article addresses critical risks and opportunities to the mining industry in developing a greener economy.
When the history of the 21st Century is written, the struggle against COVID-19 will take a chapter. After all, it has changed, if only temporarily, the way we live and work. The book, however, will focus on climate change and the action taken to not only save the planet, but humanity.
If history was to judge that action as meaningful and effective, it would show that policy and decision-makers of today in government, industry, and finance understood three critical points.
First, the climate does not respond to emissions immediately. If humanity ceased all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2050, as many countries have committed to, the planet will continue to warm and the climate will continue to change for about 30 years.
Second, unlike almost all other environmental considerations, the impact of GHGs is not local, it is global. The climate does not respond to emission intensity, only total emissions.
Third, the greatest impacts from climate change will be felt in the developing world, jurisdictions with developing infrastructure and burgeoning mining. Successful mining depends on contented stakeholders. Although climate change may open new opportunities, it will also increase risk in the industry as storms intensify and weather patterns destabilise.
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