Creating Value with the Future in Mind - Anglo American South Africa

managing our impact on the environment Climate change and Energy
Our carbon journey
Outcomes Avoid risk and liability Enable our business to grow
Climate change performance
1–3 YEARS
Continuous improvement
and asset optimisation
• Carbon and energy
savings – aligned to targets
• Climate adaptation –
risks and mitigation plans
• Business unit assessment
of product risks and
opportunities
3–6 YEARS
Piloting new techniques
and technologies
• Reduced cost of
compliance
• Business unit action on
product risks and
opportunities
• Stakeholder partnerships
on carbon savings
6–10 YEARS
Breaking new ground
• Carbon offset projects
deliver commercial
benefits
• Adaptation measures
embedded against key
climate risks
• New product/market
opportunities are accessed
Build resilience
• Partnerships with stakeholders
on carbon reducing projects
• Embed carbon and energy savings
culture in the workforce
Be proactive
• Carbon trading used to
minimise cost of compliance
• Climate adaptation measures
designed into business plans
• Low-carbon technology partnership
with our key stakeholders
• Carbon offset projects implemented
Be disciplined
• Energy and carbon performance
management programme
• Regional climate models identify key
site adaptation requirements
• Business units assess product market risks
and opportunities
• Working with government and
industry for responsible carbon policies
• Evaluate biodiversity carbon offset potential
Individual operations may begin
their journey at different stages,
but each one must eventually
meet all cumulative requirements
of the model.
Time
GHG emissions by source in 2012
%
Scope 2 GHG emissions from electricty
purchased 53
Scope 1 GHG emissions from fossil fuels 24
Scope 1 GHG emissions from methane 16
Scope 1 GHG emissions from processes 7
Energy consumption
by source in 2012
%
legislation, as well as the outcome
of the federal election in September
2013, could pose further challenges.
Metallurgical Coal has spent around
$350 million to date on initiatives to
reduce its carbon emissions, such as
on-site gas management operations,
connections to provide waste coal
seam gas to gas power stations, and
ongoing contributions to research
organisations. This has had the overall
effect of reducing the business’ carbon
footprint over the past five years by
more than 20 million tonnes of CO 2 e.
Our performance
Our focus on implementing targets and
energy-saving initiatives is delivering
results. Already, 223 projects,
accounting for energy savings of nearly
3.6 million gigajoules (GJ), have been
completed. In 2012 these projects
yielded a $75 million saving in energy
costs. We have also saved 3.3 Mt of
CO 2 e as a result of these projects and
methane management programmes
at Metallurgical Coal in Australia.
Reducing our GHG emissions
Our total GHG emissions (Scope 1
and Scope 2) were 17.9 Mt of
CO 2 e, compared with 18.8 Mt in 2011.
Our 2012 emissions data no longer
includes the contribution of
spontaneous combustion in process
emissions, which was partly
responsible for this reduction. We have
discontinued reporting on this as it is
not industry practice to do so and there
is no agreed scientific methodology;
however, we continue to estimate and
report on this internally.
In Australia, our primary alternative
energy projects are the methane-fired
power stations at our Moranbah North
and Capcoal collieries (see case study
on page 63). In South Africa, we have
had positive results from replacing
conventional boilers with heat pumps
in the mine change-houses at our
Kumba Iron Ore, Platinum and
Thermal Coal businesses. In 2012,
the overall contribution of renewable
energy sources to our electricity
consumption was 29%, mostly driven
by our South American operations.
Energy consumption
During 2012, we consumed
108.3 million GJ of energy
(2011: 102.1 million GJ). The 6%
year-on-year increase was largely
attributable to significant increases at
our Los Bronces copper mine in Chile
and our Barro Alto Nickel operation in
Brazil – both of which are ramping up
production. Disrupted production at
operations in South Africa partially
curbed our energy use, along with
Scope 1 energy consumption:
renewable 2
Scope 1 energy consumption:
non-renewable 50
Scope 2 energy consumption:
non-renewable 32
Scope 2 energy consumption:
nuclear 2
Scope 2 energy consumption:
renewable 14
the 223 energy-savings projects
implemented in 2012. We achieved
savings of around $75 million through
our energy-efficiency projects.
Adaptation
In recent years, we have focused
on assessing the potential physical
impacts of climate change in a number
of potentially high-risk operational
regions and sites, including our
Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil
and our Thermal Coal and Platinum
operations in the Olifants River
catchment in South Africa. Building
on this climate change impactassessment
work, in the first half of
62 Anglo American plc Sustainable Development Report 2012