Wednesday 20 February 2019

Glencore pledges to cap global coal production

One of the world’s biggest coal producers Glencore has pledged to cap global production as part of its commitment towards transitioning to a low carbon economy.

The Anglo-Swiss commodity trading and mining company, whose portfolio includes copper, cobalt, nickel, vanadium and zinc, has vowed to align the business with the Paris climate targets following pressure from investors.

It aims to cap its global thermal and coking coal production at the current level of around 145 million tonnes following discussions with the Climate Action 100+ initiative, an investor initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.

It consists of more than 300 investors with assets worth more than $32 trillion (£24.5tn).

Glencore said in a statement: “To deliver a strong investment case to our shareholders, we must invest in assets that will be resilient to regulatory, physical and operational risks related to climate change.

“To meet the growing needs of a lower carbon economy, Glencore aims to prioritise its capital investment to grow production of commodities essential to the energy and mobility transition and to limit its coal production capacity broadly to current levels.”

The company adds it is on track to meet its first target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 5% by 2020 compared to a 2016 baseline.